(im)personal identity in medicine
The healthcare system has flaws that negatively impacted Henrietta Lacks’ time in the hospital. 54 years have passed since her death and the same stigma that affected her still exists. Stigma power and depersonalization can both adversely alter a person’s identity.
Stigma Power
Stigma power is used to explain the ways in which people are kept in, out, above, or below certain groups within society (Link & Phelan, 2013). It is no big secret that the United States has had a rough history with stigma. The very colonization of this country hinged on using stigma power to push out the Native Americans and allow the Europeans to colonize the land. While the eradication of Native Americans was occurring, the enslavement of African Americans began. Stigma power reduced African Americans from people to some sort of sub-human being. Even after slavery was abolished and everyone was technically “free”, African Americans still faced a wall. Jim Crow laws been enacted which legalized segregation and allowed for continued exclusion from society.
As a poor black woman living in Virginia, Henrietta Lacks daily life was affected by Jim Crow laws. Segregation was everywhere to prevent races from blending. The segregation limited access to all sorts of resources. After her cancer diagnosis, Henrietta was forced to travel all the way to Johns Hopkins Hospital because it was the only major hospital that would treat black patients (Skloot, 2010). Her quality of care was lower solely because of her skin color. This type of discrimination ended during the Civil Rights movement didn’t it? No! Even as of 2003 stigma power restricts minorities from accessing healthcare. A large portion of minorities live in low socioeconomic neighborhoods where necessary healthcare is inaccessible (Du Pre, 2010). There are hundreds of thousands of people that face situations similar Henrietta’s experience travelling to Johns Hopkins. In the 1950s, the justification for limiting African Americans was through legalized segregation. Now, the justification is because proper healthcare facilities cannot be located in such poor neighborhoods (Gamble, 2014). Times really haven’t changed. We claim that there have been all sorts of social advancements in our society, when in reality we have found new ways to stigmatize the same people.
Henrietta Lacks deserves recognition not only for her cellular contribution, but for the experiences that she had to undergo during her lifetime. She faced stigma power head on with no choice but to accept it. It is important for us to learn from her experiences and compare them to the ones that we face almost 60 years later. There is a disparity that has existed in healthcare for a very long time and the general public needs to know about. Education is the only way to truly make change and grant everyone the healthcare that they deserve.
Stigma Power
Stigma power is used to explain the ways in which people are kept in, out, above, or below certain groups within society (Link & Phelan, 2013). It is no big secret that the United States has had a rough history with stigma. The very colonization of this country hinged on using stigma power to push out the Native Americans and allow the Europeans to colonize the land. While the eradication of Native Americans was occurring, the enslavement of African Americans began. Stigma power reduced African Americans from people to some sort of sub-human being. Even after slavery was abolished and everyone was technically “free”, African Americans still faced a wall. Jim Crow laws been enacted which legalized segregation and allowed for continued exclusion from society.
As a poor black woman living in Virginia, Henrietta Lacks daily life was affected by Jim Crow laws. Segregation was everywhere to prevent races from blending. The segregation limited access to all sorts of resources. After her cancer diagnosis, Henrietta was forced to travel all the way to Johns Hopkins Hospital because it was the only major hospital that would treat black patients (Skloot, 2010). Her quality of care was lower solely because of her skin color. This type of discrimination ended during the Civil Rights movement didn’t it? No! Even as of 2003 stigma power restricts minorities from accessing healthcare. A large portion of minorities live in low socioeconomic neighborhoods where necessary healthcare is inaccessible (Du Pre, 2010). There are hundreds of thousands of people that face situations similar Henrietta’s experience travelling to Johns Hopkins. In the 1950s, the justification for limiting African Americans was through legalized segregation. Now, the justification is because proper healthcare facilities cannot be located in such poor neighborhoods (Gamble, 2014). Times really haven’t changed. We claim that there have been all sorts of social advancements in our society, when in reality we have found new ways to stigmatize the same people.
Henrietta Lacks deserves recognition not only for her cellular contribution, but for the experiences that she had to undergo during her lifetime. She faced stigma power head on with no choice but to accept it. It is important for us to learn from her experiences and compare them to the ones that we face almost 60 years later. There is a disparity that has existed in healthcare for a very long time and the general public needs to know about. Education is the only way to truly make change and grant everyone the healthcare that they deserve.
Depersonalization
Personal identity is the set of characteristics that define who a person is (Du Pre, 2010). This idea of personal identity can be affected by healthcare providers’ level of involvement. Depersonalization occurs when a patient’s personal identity is removed from the picture. We can identify Henrietta Lacks as the caring mother whose concern for her children’s’ well-being was greater than her own. Very few people truly see Henrietta for who she was, but more for her cells. She became famous for the HeLa cells, not as a person. She was reduced from Henrietta Lacks to the code HeLa.
The depersonalization occurred a few weeks before her death. There was a day where painkillers were not working and she was facing excruciating pain. One of the doctors noted on her record “Henrietta is still a miserable specimen.” This was before her death and the term HeLa had become a household word. “A miserable specimen” is how her doctor viewed her while she was still in the room breathing and very much alive. After she passed away she was remembered by HeLa and not as the caring mother who fought cancer until the end.
What does it mean to us?
There is a lesson to be learned from Henrietta’s life experiences. The implications of depersonalization can be devastating. It allows a person’s true identity to be washed away and that person becomes just a name. Healthcare professionals nowadays engage in similar practices that of the doctor who referred to Henrietta as “a miserable specimen.” Reducing patients to a name or number places a wedge between patient and caregiver communication. From Henrietta’s experience, we can observe relationships with our healthcare providers and prevent depersonalization. Building patient-provider communication will reduce the chances of depersonalization. For some tips to build stronger patient-provider relations, click here.
Identity: (Photo 8)