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In 1976, John Moore was working twelve-hour days, seven days a week, as a surveyor on the Alaska
Pipeline. He thought the job was killing him. His gums bled, his stomach swelled, and bruises covered his
body. It turned out that at the age of thirty-one, Moore had hairy-cell leukemia, a rare and deadly
cancer that filled his spleen with malignant blood cells until it bulged like an overfilled inner tube.
Moore’s local doctor referred him to Dr. David Golde, A prominent cancer researcher at UCLA, who said
that removing his spleen was the best option. Moore signed a consent that stated the hospital could
“dispose of any severed tissue or member by cremation,” and Golde removed his spleen. A normal
spleen weighs less than a pound; Moore’s weighed twenty-two. Within days, Mr. Moore’s doctors were
amazed to discover that his blood profile had returned to normal.
After the surgery, Moore moved to Seattle, became an oyster salesman, and went on with his life. When
Dr. Golde examined Moore’s spleen, he found that it contained unique blood cells that produced a type
of protein that stimulates the growth of white blood cells, intrinsic to fighting infection. Every few
months, between 1976 and 1983, he flew to Los Angeles for follow-up exams with Golde. At first Moore
didn’t think much of the visits, but after a few years of visits, when blood and bone marrow was taken,
he started thinking, “Can’t a doctor in Seattle do this?” When Moore told Golde he wanted to start doing
his follow-up visits closer to home, Golde offered to pay for the plane tickets and put him up at the
Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Moore thought that this was odd, but he did not become suspicious until 1983-
seven years after his surgery-when Golde’s nurse handed him a new consent that read:
I (do / do not) voluntarily grant to the University of California all rights that I or my heirs may
have in any cell line or any other potential product which might be developed from the blood
and or bone marrow obtained from me.
At first, Moore circled I do, thinking that he didn’t want to rock the boat and would risk dying. However
he suspected that Golde was not being entirely truthful. Moore asked Dr. Golde if any of the follow-up
work he was doing had commercial value. Dr. Golde said no, but Moore circled ‘I do not’ just in case.
After his appointment, Moore went to his parents’ house nearby, and upon his arrival, the phone was
ringing. It was Dr. Golde, who had already called twice since Moore left. Dr. Golde stated that Moore
must have circled the wrong option on the form and asked him to come back and fix it. Moore didn’t
want to confront Dr. Golde, and stated that he could not return as he had to fly to Seattle.
Soon after Moore returned to his home in Seattle, the same consent form arrived in his mail, with a
sticker that stated, “Circle: I do.” Moore didn’t. A few weeks later, Moore received the consent again,
with a letter from Golde telling him to stop being a pain and sign the form. Moore then sent the form to
a lawyer, who found that Golde had devoted much of the seven years since Moore’s surgery to
developing and marketing a cell line called Mo, directly derived from Moore’s leukemia cells.
Moore stated that he felt dehumanized, to be thought of as ‘Mo’ in the medical record. All of a sudden
he was not a patient, but a ‘piece of meat.’ Weeks before giving Moore the new consent form- after
years of “follow-up” appointments- Golde had filed a for a patent on Moore’s cells, and severalGWYNEDD MERCY UNIVERSITY
HS100/RC200 INTRODUCTION TO ALLIED HEALTH
United in Mercy: Non-violence Begins with Me
RC200 Essay assignment/2022/WRS
extremely valuable proteins those cells produced. Golde hadn’t yet sold the rights to the patent, but
according to the lawsuit that Moore eventually filed, Golde had entered into an agreement with a
biotech company that gave him stocks and financing worth more than $3.5 million to “commercially
develop” and “scientifically investigate” the Mo cell line. At that point, its market value was estimated to
be worth $3 billion.
ASSIGNMENT
Your assignment is to write a two- page essay answering the following questions:
1. Do you think it was within the legal right of Dr. Golde to take Mr. Moore’s cells? Why or why
not?
2. Do you think it was right for Dr. Golde to make money off of Mr. Moore’s cells without his
knowledge? Why or why not?
3. What was the outcome of Mr. Moore’s lawsuit? (Google: “Moore v. Regents of the University of
California”)
4. What would have been the ramifications if the verdict was the opposite?
5. Do you agree or disagree with the verdict? Why or why not?
6. If you were found to have a cell line that was capable of benefitting those with a disease that
had no cure, would you attempt to profit from it or have a more altruistic approach? Perhaps
some of both? Justify your answer.
GUIDELINES
You are to answer the questions above, adhering to the following:
1. A minimum of two pages (i.e. your essay should go on to the third page)
2. One inch margins
3. 12 point font
4. Double spaced
5. At least two references cited from scholarly sources (i.e. Wikipedia, WebMD, etc. are not
acceptable) justifying your responses to the questions above
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