Henrietta Lacks Thesis

In the time that Henrietta was being treated for cancer, black people were treated very differently that white people. They were separated into ‘colored wards’ and given less treatment, or treatment on a lower quality, than

Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1st, 1920 to Eliza and John Randall Pleasant, in Roanoke, Virginia. It is uncertain how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta. After her mother, Eliza, passed away giving birth to her tenth child in 1924 her father, John, distributed his children to relatives in Clover, Virginia. Henrietta ended up with her grandfather in a log cabin that previously had been slave quarters for a white ancestor’s plantation. Henrietta shared a room in the cabin with her cousin, David Lacks. In 1935, when Henrietta was 14 years of age, the cousins had their son Lawrence. Four years later the couple had Elsie their handicapped daughter, following her birth they proceeded to marry in 1941. In Maryland, where they moved at the urging of their cousin, they had three more children: David Jr., Deborah, and Joseph. At Johns Hopkins Hospital on January 29th, 1952, Physician Howard Jones quickly diagnosed Henrietta with cervical cancer. On October 4th, 1957, at the age of 31, Henrietta Lacks passed away at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The first social determinant that impacted Henrietta Lacks’ health was income. The higher income an individual has, the more likely that they will be able to afford better healthcare, healthier foods, cleaner houses, and so on. These things directly influence are health. Individuals with lower incomes settle

Henrietta Lacks was born as Loretta Pleasant. At some point in time, she changed her name to Henrietta. After her mother died in 1924, she was sent to live with her grandfather in a log cabin, that had been the slave head quarters of a white ancestor’s plantation. Henrietta shared a room with her first cousin. When she was 14, they had a boy named Lawrence and a girl name Elsie. In 1941,

Grey and his actions. Zakariyya holds onto to these damaging emotions which causes him to act out in rage and violence. Deborah and Zakariyya have very different ways of reacting and handling their emotions, however all the emotions they are feeling are valid in their obscure and painful situation. Henrietta’s life is the prime example of the level of racism in the healthcare system in the 1950s. The struggles that blacks faced during this time period were only made worse by the poor treatments from the doctors or even the complete disregard for their black patients. According to Skloot the issues relating to blacks seeking medical care could include being hospitalized later in stages of their sickness, fewer pain medications, and higher mortality rates. These facts that came from the racist healthcare system greatly influenced Henrietta’s life, by causing her more pain since the doctors kept sending her away without the appropriate treatment. This surely wouldn’t have happened if Henrietta was a middle class white woman. No one can know for sure, but perhaps giving Henrietta the proper care and treatment from the beginning would not only ease her suffering, but also her

To Begin, Hennie came from a family of ten, they originally lived in Roanoke, Virginia in the 1920’s. In 1924 Hennie’s mother died while giving birth to her tenth child. Johnny Lacks, Henrietta’s father was now responsible for all ten children. But because of his health and little patience for the children they then moved to Clover, Virginia where the rest of the family lived and divided the children up between all family members. Henrietta ended up growing up and living with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks. She also grew up with her

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. Henrietta’s mother passed away in 1924. She was sent to live with her grandfather. Henrietta shared a room with her first cousin David. They had their first son, Lawrence in 1935 when she was fourteen. Then they had their first daughter in 1939, Elsie, who was disabled. Henrietta and David then moved to Maryland and had three more children, David Jr., Deborah, and Joseph.

First, the waver that Henrietta signed at John Hopkins gave permission for her doctors to (according to Skloot) (2010) “perform any operative procedures…that they deem necessary in the proper surgical care and treatment of _________________,” (pg. 31). Henrietta’s cells were taken, but not for treating her cancer. Second, because of her race and economic status, Henrietta was an easy target. . In 1951, at John Hopkins, when Henrietta received treatment at a colored operating room. Because of this segregation, The treatment was not as well and the doctors had the ability do take advantage of her but Henrietta did not have much of a choice. In the operating room, Richard TeLinde did not ask her permission to take her tissues, Even if he had, Henrietta would not have been able to say no. Skloot (2010) describes this as a time of “benevolent deception” (pg. 63), where the doctors hid information from the patients at the hospital and patients didn’t question doctors, especially when the doctors were white and the patients were black. This is what made Henrietta such a target at John Hopkins. Additionally, no one thought to tell Henrietta afterwards what George Gey had discovered about her special

Racism wasn’t far from this case the doctor in Henrietta’s case figured that telling her what they were doing would only confuse her and her family even more so they just figure to not tell her or her family at all. This case started in 1951 and the research on the cells still goes on till the present.

Due to severe pains, on January twenty-ninth, nineteen fifty-one, Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland where she was diagnosed with cervical cancer by Dr. Howard Jones. She was a patient in the “colored ward”. During her eight month long radiation treatments, doctors removed two dime-sized samples of her cancer-ridden cervix without ever informing her, asking her permission and letting her family know. Henrietta Lacks died of cancer a few months after her diagnosis on October fourth, nineteen fifty-one, at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the age of thirty-one, leaving behind her husband

Henrietta Lacks is woman, whose cells have been used for 63 years after her death in 1951, and will continue to be used as long as they are continue to grow. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was born in the south, who married her cousin and moved up north. After giving birth to her last child, she finds that she has cancer. The doctors took a sample of her cancer cells without her permission, and now have millions of dollars but the family is still hasn’t received the money they are rightfully entitled to. Many of healthcare and entitlements that are around today, are due to the ill treatment of Henrietta and her family. Still to this day, there is very little known about Henrietta Lacks, even with the book out, and she has

Henrietta Lacks was born in Roanoke Virginia on August 1, 1920. She was a young black women who would end up making the biggest contribution to science in humanity. Henrietta began to feel something in her stomach that made her very uncomfortable and often stated she could feel a lump. Lacks decided to take a visit to John Hopkins hospital in January of 1951, and this would change her life forever. John Hopkins hospital was the only nearby hospital for miles that would assist those of the negro descent.

In 1951 there was a young black lady who was named Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was a tobacco farmer in Clover, Virginia. Her mother died giving birth and her father moved the family to Clover, where the children were distributed among some of the close relatives. In January of 1951 she went to John Hopkins hospital, which was the only place close to her that treated black patients at the time. Lacks described a “knot” in her stomach that ended up being cervical cancer. During her treatments two samples from her

Henrietta Lacks was a black woman that grew up in the rural segregated south; her lifespan was from 1921 to1951. She grew up on her grandfather Lacks tobacco farm after her mother died giving birth to her tenth child. From the time she was four years old, she picked, cleaned, and harvested tobacco leaves, spending little or no time in school; she had at most a 6th grade education. By the time she was fourteen, Henrietta had given birth

The family feared what they believed were "night doctors who abducted black people for medical research"(Skloot). Because there was still discrimination then, they feared the worst. In my opinion the Lacks family was angry with the scientists using HeLa cells from Henrietta without the family's consent. I think they wanted everyone to know that Henrietta didn't donate her cells, they were taken without asking and without telling the family what was going to happen to them.