Rebecca Nurse

On 4 October 1951, Henrietta Lacks died. However, in death, she was transformed. Her cervical cancer cells, taken without her knowledge, would revolutionize the medical world by aiding in the development of gene mapping, cloning, and the polio vaccine (Skloot, 96). The method used by her Johns Hopkins doctors to gain access to her immortal cells was nothing short of unethical. Medical consent hardly existed in 1950, and doctors were able to take anything from patients they deemed valuable…

Open Hearts: The Work of Daniel Hale Williams Germs don’t discriminate, why should hospitals? Daniel Hale Williams, quite possibly the most prominent black physician of his time, sought to answer this question. Best known for performing the first successful recorded heart surgery, Williams spent his life working for the advancement of African-Americans within the medical field. Williams was born in 1856 in the town of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. A chance encounter with a barbershop customer…

Dr. Gey's use of Henrietta Lacks cervical tissue was unethical and disrespectful to the patient. His wicked nature stole her cells without consent used the cells to make some of the most astonishing research. This immortal act of Dr. Gey, was wrong, regardless of his curiosity. Even though, he was the head of tissue culture at John Hopkins and that was his main focus, taking her cells without permission and use them to make millions of dollars displayed an improper and unprofessional behavior.…

In 1951, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took cell samples from a cancer patient without her knowledge or permission. This woman, Henrietta Lacks, has been a controversial topic ever since. For years, Dr. George Gey had been trying to make human cells divide and multiply continuously, and when the cell sample that had been taken from Mrs. Lacks began to do just that, he was understandably ecstatic. Having a limitless supply of living human cells allowed doctors to test how human cells reacted…

1. What was the chief injustice of the book? The chief injustice was the lack of informed consent and privacy violation. The scientific community was largely convinced that the HeLa cells had been donated. In reality, Henrietta Lacks, as a patient at John Hopkins, had not been informed that samples from her cervix were collected, nor had she been asked if she was interested in being a donor (p. 33). HeLa cells made large contributions to science, but they have exclusively benefitted companies…

scientists and allowed her to know that not all were out to get her and her family. However, I think that the most influential person in getting Deborah and her family to trust doctors and other people regarding their mother was the author of the book, Rebecca Skloot. From the beginning she included the family in her research, allowed them to move at their own pace, and was open to all of their questions, complaints, and suggestions. Her decade of research and time with the family showed them…

Rebecca Skloot’s book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, combines investigative reporting and scientific research to expose the race, gender, socioeconomic status, and bioethical issues regarding HeLa cells. As the story unfolds, Henrietta Lacks, a poor black women, seeks treatment in 1951 for gynecological issues at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As A result, a few days later she receives the diagnosis of epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, stage I. Not long after, Henrietta had her first…

My role as a social worker would have been to help the family as much 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.…

HeLa cells are a unique strain of cancerous cells obtained from the cancerous cervical tissue of Henrietta Lacks, who perished to the disease on October 4, 1951. HeLa cells are unique because they are “immortal”. HeLa cells are immortal because they do not experience programmed cell death like normal cells would, allowing the HeLa cells to replicate infinitely without experiencing degeneration of genetic material. It is suspected that Henrietta's human papilloma virus and syphilis played a…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Part One Life and is comprised of eleven chapters that jump in time periods. Henrietta’s story starts its 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital when she is seeking treatment for a knot she discovered. However, it took multiple follow-ups before doctors took her concern seriously and diagnosed her with cervical cancer. The following chapters explores who Henrietta was beyond her medical chart and the impact she had on the people that personally knew her. It is…