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Introducing bioethics in a molecular pathophysiology course using a popular science nonfiction book (531.26)
Author(s) -
Walton Kristen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.531.26
Subject(s) - bioethics , surprise , reading (process) , context (archaeology) , medical education , subject (documents) , psychology , medicine , library science , political science , law , history , computer science , social psychology , archaeology
Students in the biology department at Missouri Western State University are exposed to bioethics issues informally in several classes, but are not required to take a separate bioethics course. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot provides a discussion of the life of the woman whose cervical cancer biopsy gave rise to the HeLa cell line, as well as a historical context for the relevant medical, social, and ethical issues. This book is assigned reading in an upper division Molecular Basis of Disease course with two aims: 1) To expose students to the fact that many human cell lines and other research reagents originated as patient tissue, and 2) to use the Lacks family story as a springboard for discussion of the guidelines for ethical treatment of human research subjects. Students had weekly reading assignments with online submission of responses to questions about the science and ethics relevant to each assignment. After finishing the book, students were assigned to write a brief paper on the events that led to the current federal regulations for human subjects research. Students were also surveyed about their knowledge of these guidelines and for their qualitative feedback to the usefulness of including this book as part of the course. Many students reported surprise at some medical procedures and practices that were standard several decades ago. Most students were unaware that human tissues are not subject to the same regulations as human subjects in clinical research studies or the events such as the Nuremburg trials that initiated the first versions of ethics guidelines. Overall, this book has been a successful platform for increasing student knowledge of human subjects research ethics and empathy for the humans who have contributed tissues to medical research.