Henrietta Lacks And Hela Essay

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital. Without any consent, Henrietta’s doctors took tissue samples from her cervix and attempted to grow them and keep them alive. These cells, known as HeLa cells, began to grow at an unbelievable rate; The HeLa cell became vital for the development of vaccines and other scientific research. However because of Henrietta’s race and economic standpoint, Henrietta Lacks and the rest of the Lacks family was exploited by doctors. The exploitation of the family allowed the doctors and researchers to benefit scientifically and monetarily.

Henrietta Lacks discovered a knot in her womb one day and went to the Hopkins Hospital, in the gynecology clinic for "colored" people. Henrietta had been telling her friends for more than a year that something was hurting and it

Twenty years passed before the Lacks’s family discovered that Henrietta Lacks had not truly died, but that her cells continued to live on in vitro.

Bringing Henrietta to Life: Creating Dialogue on Disparities across Disciplines Henrietta Lacks was a woman who made an eye-opening breakthrough in medicine in the early 1950s. Her cells were the first immortal cells to be discovered which paved the way for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in-vitro fertilization, and more. Unfortunately, there are two sides to every story. Although, modern medicine would not be where it is today without Hela cells, Henrietta’s family continued to struggle with her legacy because of the health disparities associated with ethics, race, and medicine. Henrietta’s cells were taken without her knowledge and used to cure various medical conditions.

It clearly obvious that to George Guy- the man who discovered HeLa cells- Henrietta was the same black women she was before she died and after she died. During this period of time, there were no set laws regarding that a patient must give permission or be notified if they cells were extracted from them. Even so, being African American and a woman during this extremely racist time period there was guarantee that she would even be told or lied to, similar to the 600 African Americans who were involved in the Tuskegee syphilis experimentation who were actually lied to.

In the early 1970s, researchers called the Lacks family requesting blood samples from Henrietta’s family so as to determine which cells were HeLa cells as they had begun contaminating other cell cultures in labs. One has to wonder if the need to identify HeLa cells from other cells hadn’t arisen, than perhaps the Lacks family would have never been told of impact of their mother’s cells. As it is, the researchers who contacted the Lacks family didn’t make much effort to explain the situation to Day Lacks, Henrietta’s husband, or her children. Mr. Lacks had only a third grade education, so he didn’t know

Can you imagine doctors stealing your cells and using them for scientific medical experiments without you or your family’s consent, and for your cells to be sold worldwide without anyone knowing, even your family, that you are the woman whose cells became immortal and helped in fascinating scientific and medical discoveries? This is the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks whose immortal cells are known as HeLa. The book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” written by Rebecca Skloot is a scientific biography about Henrietta’s life before and after her death and the effects it had on others. In the book she explains her journey of discovering the truth behind Hela, she talks about the Lacks family, and the events caused by the HeLa cells.

Yes, the HeLa cells went on to contribute to medical research in unimaginable ways, but it was done in an illegal and violating way. Henrietta never knew that the doctors took tissue from her tumor to study her cells, and in the process of treating her, they did not seem to show much concern or do everything they could to help her. The doctors believed they could do all of this because she was an African American woman, and not paying directly for her treatment. Now a days, this would been seen as cruel, illegal, and the doctors would have more than likely been prosecuted for their wrongful actions. This just goes to show just how different society was during this time in United States History. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book that impacts every reader, showing them how unjust the world used to be, and still is. Rebecca Skloot does an amazing job appealing to the readers emotions and moral, in order to make every reader feel the need to make a positive impact in the world, and make sure that nothing like this ever happens

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, the family of Henrietta is never given true Justice. Justice is fair treatment. When righteousness, equitableness, and respect is shown that is true justice. Religion, race, or gender should never affect how a person should be treated, they deserve to be given equal justice to any other person. The Lacks family never received justice. Therefore, they were never informed that John Hopkins toke Henrietta's cells and they never knew that they would be so helpful to science. At the time Henrietta’s cells were taken, there was no law for informing or obtaining consent from cell donors. Until years later did the family of Henrietta find out that the famous HeLa cells were not Helen Lane’s or Helen Larson’s cells, but they were Henrietta Lacks Cells. Since the family of Henrietta never got the recognition they deserved and never made any money off of her cells, they never got the justice they deserved.

George Gey and without her consent or knowledge he took the tissue samples that created the HeLa frenzy. However, Gey kept the identity of Henrietta a secret until his final years and it was often reported incorrectly that HeLa stood for Helen Lane. Ultimately, the treatments she received from John Hopkins were not enough and Henrietta passed away at the tender age of 31. Part two, Death explores the impact HeLa cells had on the world and the chaos it caused her family. After Henrietta’s death, her children were left in the care of her malicious cousin Ethel and was subjected to child neglect and abuse. The baby of the siblings Zakariyya suffered the worst at her hands and the experience molded his tumultuous behavior. Deborah, who was the driving force behind the book, suffered mentally and physically as well growing up, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to seek information about her mother and sister Elsie. Though, the biggest downfall was that Henrietta’s family developed a mistrusting attitude towards doctors and refused to get the proper help needed to treat an assortment of ailments. HeLa, on the other hand, was saving the lives of millions and being massed produced globally for an array of

Before she died, a cancerous tumor was removed from her cervix (Freeman, 2016). While studying the samples collected from her biopsy, the first ever immortal cell line was discovered, which they also found to be the first cells to live outside of a human body (Biography, 2016). Her cells were labelled ‘HeLa’ cells, which derive from the first two letters of her first and last names, and were used to keep Henrietta anonymous (MedicineNet, 2016). These unique HeLa cells proved to be of immense value as it provided the field of medicine with a tool that led to the creation vaccines, cancer treatments and in vitro fertilisation among many other things (Dailey, 2017). Other than to diagnose her disease, Henrietta had never given consent for her cells to be used for further medical research. Her family was also never informed about the use of her cells until the early 1970s, neither were they compensated. Apparently “John Hopkins did not sell or profit from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells” (McDaniels, 2014). Although this may be true, HeLa cells and their products have been sold all over the world, earning millions of dollars (NPR, 2010). This raised a number of ethical issues, as the Lacks family was extremely poor and couldn’t afford health insurance or substantial education. Henrietta’s son stated that “My mother would be so proud that her cells saves lives…but she’d be so horrified that Johns Hopkins profited while her family to this day has no rights” (McDaniels, 2017). This situation sparked debates on whether Henrietta and her family should have been informed and compensated or not, and generally what the rights an individual has on his or her genetic material (Kroll,

Thievery from voracious doctors. Discrimination from a segregated society. Suffering for the remainder of her life. Each of these obstacles like a bombshell, altering the life of a poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks. In the New York Times bestseller novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, author Rebecca Skloot reveals the untold and often unknown story behind the woman whose cells helped create some of the most profound contributions in medical history. Born and raised in Virginia in 1920, Lacks was a typical black southerner, growing up impoverished and recovering from the aftermath of a previous generation of slavery. It wasn’t until later in her adulthood when she was diagnosed with a severe case of cervical cancer, which rapidly deteriorated her body as doctors applied intensive doses of radium treatments. Before she passed away in 1951, doctors removed a sample of her tumor from her body without her or her family’s knowledge or permission. This tumor sample was crucial to the progression of medical advancements, for the cancerous cells never died in various mediums and became the first immortal human cells in history. Scientists were eager to experiment with the notorious HeLa cells. Doctors made millions selling HeLa by the vial. The Lacks family was uninformed for 25 years about Henrietta’s legendary cells, leaving them flummoxed, devastated, and outraged. One of the most pressing incidents in medical history has left the world to question concerns regarding

Henrietta Lacks: an unknown name up until recent years. A name that had been known to the world only as HeLa; The first two letters of a name that belonged to a poor African American tobacco farmer that unknowingly changed science and life as we know it today. Her life has finally been portrayed in a very intimate story that not only does her life some justice but also transcendentally brings to mind the philosophical issues concerning medical ethics both of the past, present, and the future. In a world of constantly evolving medical advancement, science is a pivotal force that propels ideas forward. Although most will agree that the knowledge and cures found are a positive aspect, there is also a necessary evil that is involved, including

The medical community did not explain to or inform the Lacks family of the HeLa cells; along the way the scientists altogether forgot that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. The family felt that this was unethical; they felt their mother was robbed and taken advantage of. Despite the spread of HeLa cells and the whirlwind of new research that followed, there were no recent news or stories about “the birth of the amazing HeLa cell line” (Skloot 58). In the beginning, when Gey had kept the origin of the cells- or Henrietta - a secret, no one knew where the cells had came from and no one cared to ask.

HeLa cells are used to conduct these studies. One of the most important studies were done at the Tuskegee Institute and the studies went so well, HeLa cells were being shipped by the trillions. Various studies start all around the world with the HeLa cells as a variable. These studies include but are not limited to the study of chromosomes, cloning, HPV, AIDs, influenza, and parkinson's. Through all these studies, Gey tries to keep Henrietta’s name out of the picture and this results into the Lack’s family never knowing of Henrietta’s success. After a while, Henrietta’s true name is leaked. “So many people knew Henrietta’s name, someone was bound to leak it” (105). “Sure enough, on November 2, 1953, the Minneapolis Star became the first publication to name the woman behind the HeLa cells.” (105).