Thoughts on the Cancer-Cell Injections Case

In  July of the year 1963; three doctors at Jewish Disease Hospital in Brooklyn, New York had injected twenty-two chronically ill patients with active cancer cells with the intention to observe the regression process in patients of their condition. The ethical dilemma that arises in this situation, is the fact that no written consent was ever taken from the patients, indeed the patients were not informed that they were being injected with active cancer cells at all; and rather, the researchers did the injections on the patient’s assumption that it was a routinely medical procedure.

The purpose of the study conducted by the petitioners or researchers was to affirm that the homograft rejection reaction would be as fast as it was in a healthy patient which was between four to six weeks. They hypothesized that the rate would be normal or near normal in the patients who had chronic or debilitating diseases at the contrast of cancer patients who reflected a delayed regression period of over six weeks to three months.

The procedure that was conducted on the chronically-ill patients at the Jewish Disease Hospital was not unlike the Nazi scientist’s experimental studies upon the human subjects incarcerated in concentration camps. Each of the twenty-two patients was injected with a hypothermic injection of a suspension of tissue-cultured cells in to sites on their body; either their inner thigh or arm. Observations were then done of the sites at weekly intervals till regression was completed; the growing lumps on the site grew to about 2cm before exhibiting the regression stage of the cancerous growth.

When there was no consent taken from the patients, it is a violation of the human right to their own body; which states that they have a right to choose what to be done with or to it, unless there is a dire medical emergency. While no direct harm was received by the patients, besides being invasively injected, the actual fact that their consent was not taken, is a violation that caused the physician’s licenses to be put upon probation, after much deliberation.

I personally was not familiar with this study and case. I do feel that the fact that the physicians only received probation was not duly acceptable, especially when it was clear in their writings and statements that they had only a clinical interest in their patients as subjects while the cancer cells study was in progress, makes a violation of their Hippocratic Oath extremely likely.

References:-

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/rothman/COL476I5027.pdf

Language is Key

This is going to be my final journal; and I honestly am already feeling nostalgic about it. I’ve been regularly posting my journals on my blog that I started in high school so I have a record of my thoughts in that particular time and a timeline of my mental intellectual progression.

So here goes!

This week; we went back to the basics and cracked open Richard D. Bucher’s “Diversity Consciousness.”  We learned about topics such as Teamwork, Leadership, and Communicating in a Diverse World. I’d like to share my experiences of being bilingual, or trilingual; for I can read, speak, and write English, Arabic, and Urdu in varying degrees.

We learned that, “Communication skills are a specific form of diversity skills.” (Bucher, 2010 p.154) When we have a capability to communicate effectively, it broadens our range of people we can speak to. For example, I live in Southern Maryland, which has a large population of Hispanic- Americans. Now, some of the Hispanic Americans have elderly parents of grandparents who don’t speak any language but Spanish. I remember one time, meeting my neighbor, Miguel’s grandmother while she was watering her flowers. I wanted to let her know that I thought her garden was beautiful, yet due to the language barrier I wasn’t able to communicate my words and thoughts. I felt extremely frustrated and helpless, and thinking about this, I can picture how she must’ve felt living in America where she cannot understand the majority of the people. It really narrows your world and your capacity of expression.

We see here that, “Our individual and cultural backgrounds influence the way we communicate. The most obvious example is the language we learn and use.” (Bucher, 2010 p.156) Being bilingual really is a cultural factor. When I speak in Urdu, my thinking processes and speaking tone, attitude changes, as it does when I speak English, or Arabic. It is a true blessing of languages that it engages so much of us and ourselves into speaking, not just the words, but how we change the way we think and act.

Speaking English, with which I am most comfortable with, I tend to speak louder, quicker, and with emphasis on the beginning of the words. I am confident that I am saying exactly what I want to say; therefore my style of speaking reflects my confidence, as well as the clarity of my thoughts. I think and make connections much faster as well, my thoughts are filed in my head into blunt and clear to read “files.” If I’m trying to recall a place in, say TN; I remember that it was called Gatlinsburg; and this word prompts a flood of winter break memories. And I love that about language.

Speaking and thinking in Urdu is a bit more complex. When around native speakers, It is obvious I am not speaking my native language, yet they comment on how well I speak it nevertheless. I believe I have a natural ability to just pick up little cues and mannerisms that come along with speaking a language ( like how Italians speak with their hands!) and when I speak a certain language, especially Urdu, it naturally just becomes part of my expression. Urdu is very respectful. There are certain ways you would speak to a man, a woman, a child, an elder man, and elder woman, your mother, etc. Therefore, all these rules create a sense of roundabout ways to speak. There isn’t a possible way to speak very directly in Urdu without using words that evoke a sense of rudeness. Also, some inanimate things are ascribed male and female attributes, so thus if you speak, for example to your mother about putting something on the table, you would refer to the table as a “male” noun and your mother as a “mother female noun.” Yet Urdu is melodious, and when someone speaks it well; the ideal is to express yourself in a way that the listeners feel like they were part of the process of your statements. Sounds confusing but let’s see if an example can clarify this. Okay, if I am trying to tell my mother that I bought a very expensive pair of shoes, I would explain it in Urdu that I’ve bought some shoes, but what are your thoughts on it? How do you think they look on me? Do you agree that they are suitable? And thus you relay the fact that you’ve bought these shoes, and have assured that they approved of it by involving their input into your purchase, and that you can wear them. This ideal can apply not only on parents but on friends as well; so what Urdu does is emphasizes the community above the self. Any decisions you make should somehow or someway attribute back to the community.

Arabic is an extremely beautiful language. It is the language of poets, singers, and of the Holy Quran. In Islam, we are told it is the language of the heavens; everyone in heaven will speak it, including the angels. It’s emphasizes the use of the whole mouth, throat and even chest muscles to speak it, and therefore a person experiences a sense of transcendence or a physical connection with his or her words. When I speak or recite Arabic; I feel myself falling into a pattern of thinking where I try to speak where the words meld together and create a cohesive whole. The whole ideal, when speaking Arabic is that I believe, make your thoughts seem as put-together as they sound, and native speakers will do their best to join one idea to the next so the conversation sounds like one train of thought when in actuality, it may be two or three. Reciting Arabic, specifically the Quran is very peaceful; even when one is doing is best to recite following all the methods of speaking it, from the mouth to the chest. You feel a sense of organization and a gain a bigger picture of subjects, than you would in English or Urdu.

I am, in no way speaking for the general public, these statements are of course based upon what I can infer from other speakers and from my own experiences as a trilingual speaker. I truly believe that speaking more than one language makes it easier to learn others, as well as, expand the pool of people you can meet and communicate with; which makes life that much more enriched and valuable.

Thank You,

SFK

References:-

Bucher, Richard D. Diversity consciousness: opening our minds to people, cultures, and opportunities. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

Parting Thoughts for My BEHS220 Class

I think this was one of the most interactive course I’ve taken, even more so than the hybrid course I took! I think the sheer amount of personal thoughts and creativity, diverse expressions, and most of all; the group project really made this class one of the best I’ve ever been in.

The Group Project was literally done, at least for us, through blood, sweat, and tears. Everyone in my group put so much work and thought into this while juggling four different schedules and personalities. The project brought out a side I believe in each of us, that we usually hide away, and so this, I believe was the biggest contribution to our diversity awareness. I also made a friend that I’ve learned so much from and is and will be an inspiration throughout my life. And for that I have to thank our amazing professor.

Having an amazing instructor is always the focal reason, I believe, for optimum class experience. Dr. Lea, you’ve been such a help throughout our journey in how we learned to express and engage ourselves in topics that are considered controversial in our societies today. I felt like more than just a professor, you were a cheerleader for each and every one of us through the rocky road of building our diversity awareness, and I appreciate that so much, especially when today’s greatest and most valuable commodity is time.

Your coaching us through the group project, responding to our journal entries with thoughtful and encouraging comments, and answering our questions with detailed responses all contributed to a such a great atmosphere of support and encouragement; that I feel that everyone of us had responded with going above and beyond  their comfort zone to produce the best work possible.

Walking away from this class; I think some of the most important things I’ve learned are: the importance of communication and having an open mind. We live in the Information Age and no matter what society conditions us to believe, we must become a two-way street; communicating our ideas and thoughts, while keeping our minds and hearts open to receive and understand others. And I think all my classmates can vouch that point as well.

Thoughts on Migrant Workers

While conducting the interview for our Different Perspectives project; I’ve come to learn that my interviewee was a victim of exploitation through a guest worker program. This opened a whole new door for me, because as an individual who knows about living in no other country but here, to the extent that I don’t even own a passport; the ideal of such lack of respect to another human commited by Americans was hard for me to grasp. I thought, like many people, that the “average trafficking victims are from the poorest, most isolated communities.” (Adams et al. 2013 p.188) Learning about Lul’s story, I found that this was not always the case, for example, Lul’s mother was a graduate of Oxford University, one of the most prestigious universities of the world; and to imagine her daughter being exploited at the degree she was as an au pair in Michigan was very hard for me comprehend. Coincidentally; last week’s readings were also on the topics of migrant worker explosions and they really helped me understand the situation from an overall point of view.

I’ve learned that “international migration is relatively unregulated.” (Adams et al 2013 p.189) Which brings about a whole host of issues of debt bondage, forced labor, document servitude, and sex trafficking. Why and How? Well when people are brought into the country and do not understand their place in the country, for example if they are here on as a guest worker, as Lul was, before she got her student visa and green card; and have had their travel expenses paid through an organization, they have to work to pay off that debt. Now if the work assignments are not regulated, exploitation is so easy to occur. Where I work, since it is a non-profit organization; our contracts are extremely basic and open; to the point, at the end of the day I have done work of up to five different positions besides my own. Yet, according to my contract, I am only working as an office manager and nothing else and with no documentation of the actual work done, there is no way I can say I have done more and above what my position asks of me.

Therefore, I believe that documentation of work and actual duties should be outlined in guest worker contracts; very clearly, and Article 32 actually does give some suggestions of how U.S. can implement better controls over the situations and one of the few I feel that should be implemented as soon as possible are, “ examine guest worker programs tp reduce vulnerabilities, conduct briefings for domestic workers of foreign diplomats to ensure that they know their rights, and expand anti-trafficking outreach, services, and training in the insular areas.” (Adams et al. 2013 p. 190)  the reason that I believe these recommendations should be implemented are because we do have many programs for foreigners to work here, there are many ways that they may be exploited, and thus every foreigner, no matter what program they are part of, should be briefed of the rights they have here. If Lul knew she had the right to report on her employers for the mistreatment they did to her, she may not have had to be in the position for that whole year, working herself sick but unable to tell anyone, not even her own sister. Also, even if she knew her right to report or claim basic rights that are not given to her; where would she have been able to report on them? She didn’t drive, so she couldn’t have driven out to a police station or otherwise and explained her situation. Expanding the anti-abuse services to a point that every foreigner, not only knows his or her rights, they are in the position of being able to also exercise that right makes the difference between venerability and empowerment.

Thank You,

References:-

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castaneda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., Zuniga, X., (2013).  Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge.