Henrietta Lacks

Scientists and researchers concede that medical research depends significantly on human cells developed in the laboratory, in order to evaluate the functionalities of such cells, and test numerous theories concerning the causes and treatments of diseases. The cell lines needed for such experiments must be immortal, which implies that they should show signs of indefinite growth, split into a number of batches for use by numerous scientists, and frozen for long durations of time. In 1951, medicine…

back in the mid 1900’s when there was still a lot of neglect towards African-American citizens. A black woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer and since was forced into a poor lifestyle she had to go to John Hopkins, a charity hospital. This is where the name “HeLa cells” comes from; the first two letters from Henrietta, and the first two letters from Lacks. She was treated with radium by a man named George Gey. During this time Gey was performing some experiments at…

radiation, cancer, viruses, and helped lead to advances in cloning and gene mapping. These cells came from one terminally ill woman, Henrietta Lack, who didn’t even know they had been taken from her until she was on her death bed. The author, Rebecca Skloot details the origin and use of the HeLa cell line in her book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta lacks”. Henrietta was a black woman with a little more than that of an elementary education. She had never even taken a science class, so when she…

as I can get through the complications they faced. I would offer services like educating them about informed consent, provide crisis counseling, and I would try to get every member of the Lacks family the free health insurance they obviously deserve. Slavin who died 21years ago, has special cells like how Henrietta has special cells. Slavin cells produced extremely valuable proteins that were important for scientific research. However, what made Slavin’s story different from Henrietta’s story…

making that sometimes lead to misfortune among others. What’s best for the greater good, isn’t necessarily what’s best for the individual. This moral dilemma relates to the issues in the novel Dawn by Octavia Butler and an article written about Henrietta Lacks by Jessica L Stump . Circumstances when somatic rights are thrown aside isn’t acceptable without consent, however, in times of desperation, we often side in favour of the group rather then the individual. With trying to preserve…

In Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, racial stereotyping against minority patients is predominant in every aspect of health care. Many of these stereotypes in Skloot’s book painted blacks as unintelligent and vulnerable and led to many doctors taking advantage of their patients. Henrietta Lacks was one of these patients and unfortunately doctors made millions off of her cancerous cervix cells without her informed consent. Her cells, named HeLa cells, helped cure the…

In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebbeca Skoolt, who’s a journalist, was in college when she learns information about Henrietta Lacks, and African American woman, who died in 1951, from cervical cancer. Some years later, she heard about the name again and was so curious that she decided to do research on this woman. Rebecca later learns that Henrietta’s cancerous cells were the first to become the first human cell line, called HeLa. After doing some research Rebecca later learned that in…

Henrietta Lacks was born 97 years ago on August 1, 1920 in Virginia. She was born into a very poor household and with 8 siblings. Henrietta’s mother, Eliza Pleasant, died when Henrietta was only 4 years of age during childbirth. After her mother’s unexpected death, her father moved the children to Clover, VA. Henrietta worked on her grandfather’s tobacco farm growing up. Henrietta at the age of 14 had her first child with her cousin, David. She later married David when she was 20 years old. The…

not afford treatment because of color I guess it didn’t matter to the doctors what they did or didn’t do. I know back in 1951 it was done without informed consent, I do not feel that this was right in any way that the doctor took the cells from Mrs. Lacks even though she was a colored and poor woman they should have asked for her permission to take the cells that would have been the ethical way to handle this situation.…

For example, Henrietta Lacks was a woman in the 1950s. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer and her doctor removed part of her cells without her knowing. When her family had found out what was going on, they were furious. They had no idea what was going on, and they were flat out confused on the idea of the whole situation. Because of their confusion and uncertainty, Henrietta’s family “refused to talk to anyone.” (Skloot, 2011) Their family isolated themselves for years after Lacks passed…