Nursing Paper

Critical caring is a hybrid theory since it not only emphasizes on wholeness but also the physician’s accountability and diversity (Falk-Rafael, 2005). The wholeness process integrates many diversities, the universe, and the environment. Through critical caring, nurses are trained on their responsibility to advocate for patient’s and families’ rights. That way, nurses are accountable for each patient and work to protect their rights within and without the health facility.

Revoyr’s story talks about racial discrimination. As a person of color, he was not only discriminated against by his friends but family members too (Shreve, 2003). Racial discrimination can be mediated through learning cultural competence. The video by Paul Farmer, on the other hand, talks about health inequalities faced by the poor. Many developing countries are facing this conflict, and it can be mediated by the governments committing to offering health to both poor and the rich as a fundamental human right. A right mix of government policies can also reduce such a conflict (Kleinert & Horton, 2017).

                                        Henrietta Lacks Chapter 29-38 Summary

Chapter 29, “Village of Henrietta’s” accounts for Skloot and Deborah after a year of separation. She sends messages about what she found with the hope that they would meet. Deborah seems to struggle with much distrust. However, she calls back and agrees to work with Skloot, hoping to find what happened to her mother. On meeting, Deborah shows Skloot tapes, articles, among other materials concerning her mother’s cells. Skloot, on the other hand, tells her that Henrietta cells were cloned.

Chapter 30, “Zakariyya,” Skloot goes to meet Zakariyya. Zakariyya has been on probation for his aggressive behavior towards other residents. Skloot hands an article to him, and when Zakariyya gets to know that the report states that Sonny was Henrietta’s last born, he gets upset. He is furious about George Gey, but Deborah intervenes. He misses his mother and argues he could have had a better time growing up with her.

Chapter 31 “HeLa, Goddess of Death,” Skloot tells Deborah of her plan to offer scholarships to Henrietta Lacks descendants if the book is published. Deborah seems to trust Skloot, and they start working together. Skloot teach Deborah on how to use a computer, but she seems interested in studying cloning articles. In one report, Henrietta is said to have died from HPV since he was sleeping around.

Chapter 32 “All that’s My Mother” Zakariyya meets Christoph Lengauer, who gave Deborah prints on HeLa cells. Lengauer shows Zakariyya the cells inside a freezer where they are kept not to contaminate other cells. He explains the DNA role, and Zakariyya sees the HeLa cells using a medical microscope. Lengauer explains that the mother had a DNA mistake as a result of HPV exposure.

Chapter 33, “The Hospital for Negro Insane,” Skloot and Deborah go to Crownsville Hospital. This Negro insane hospital kept records from the 1950s, but on arrival, the shelves are empty. The hospital’s director argues that the files were exposed to asbestos and hence buried. Deborah has Elsie’s photo, which was said to have died of epilepsy. Lurz says that Elsie does not look epileptic. Elsie probably died as a result of experimentation since Crownsville Hospital performed many experiments with epileptic suspects.

Chapter 34, “The Medical Records,” Deborah comes to Skloot hotel room to check medical records. She seems manic and keeps pilling away papers from Skloot. The trust level between the two is unsteady, and Deborah keeps on physically attacking her and accusing her of working for someone else.

Chapter 35, “Soul cleansing,” Deborah requests Skloot to take a photo of her with Elsie’s picture. She also takes a photo at a place where she believes the mother was buried. She later visits her aunt Gladys and meets Gary, the cousin.  Deborah is emotional about her mother’s death, and Gary tries to calm her down. She laments as though what was done to her mother’s cell was done to the “actual body.” Gray prays about the situation, and Deborah recovers fast.

Chapter 36, “Heavenly Bodies,” records a point where Gary goes through the bible together with Skloot and shows her verses about eternal life.  Gary believes that Henrietta cells exist as a spiritual body and was chosen as an angel. The Lacks family are bible believers and hope to convert Skloot.

Chapter 37, “Nothing to be scared about,” Deborah goes for a checkup and notices that her blood pressure would put her at risk of getting a stroke. The doctor tells her to avoid stress. Skloot has to go for research alone and only shares the positive things with Deborah. Deborah still has reasons for stress since she is to give a speech at a conference in Washington. However, the speech is canceled, and Deborah has a stroke.

Chapter 38 “The Long Road to Clover,” Skloot gets back to Clover only to find the town is razed. Deborah keeps calling her with news of death. Gary died of a heart attack, and Cootie committed suicide, Day died of stroke among others. Deborah later divorced Pullum and moved to an assisted living facility. She then dies of a heart attack, and Sonny breaks the news to Skloot, who is sad but, at the same time, thankful knowing she died contented.

From The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, understanding ethics in research helps nurses to promote human rights and ensure respect in their studies. My next Diversity Paper should explore more on the importance of ethical research in nursing.

References

Falk-Rafael, A. (2005). Advancing Nursing Theory Through Theory-guided Practice. Advances in Nursing Science, 28(1), pp.38-49.

Farmer, P. (2009). I Believe in Health as a Human Right [Video]. Partners in Health. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJpZnUjtorI&feature=youtu.be%20https://splinternews.com/junot-diaz-and-edwidge-danticat-jointly-speak-out-again-1793848659

Kleinert, S. and Horton, R. (2017). From universal health coverage to right care for health. The Lancet, 390(10090), pp.101-102.

Shreve, S. R. (2003). Dream me home safely. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.