Henrietta Lacks Ethical Issues Surrounding Hela Cells
The medical field has made great steps in the last five decades, from preventing polio to mapping the human genome to discovering chemotherapy (Skloot par 4). All these medical breakthroughs are amazing, and they also have something in common; they are discoveries made possible because of a single woman and the cells of the cancer that killed her. In this essay, I will introduce you to Henrietta Lacks, discuss the issues of the lack of consent surrounding HeLa cells, and the lack of credit given to Henrietta Lacks for said cells. Henrietta Lacks is a woman who died in 1951 from a violent cervical cancer that grew and metastasized within nine months of her diagnosis (Grady par 6). During those nine months, Henrietta received treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where doctors extracted …show more content…
Stump, Stump discusses the happenings of Henrietta’s death day, specifically the divulgence of HeLa cells to the world (pars 1-2). Stump notes that at the time, there was no breach in patient rights because laws concerning that didn’t even exist in that time. Stump goes on to draw attention to two concerns of HeLa cells. The attempt of one researcher to remove Henrietta Lacks’ name completely by attributing the HeLa cells to a fictitious woman named Helen Lane, as well as the violation of Henrietta Lacks’ right to informed consent (par 3). Which brings us to our first issue.
The issue of how the HeLa cell culture came to be is still a point of discussion. Without the consent of Henrietta, the cells never should have made it outside her body, much less into a lab, and yet they did anyway. And it is because of that breach of basic human rights and privacy that medical science has come as far as it has.
Henrietta’s name was purposefully removed from the context of HeLa cells by Dr. George Gey, the foremost researcher in the discovery of HeLa cells (Stump par
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Book Report
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734 Words | 3 Pages“Participation by individuals capable of giving informed consent as subjects in medical research must be voluntary” (Ethics in Medical Research and Publication 2). This was a clear violation in ethics by taking Henrietta’s cells, but at the time racism was still alive and the doctors were a lot less ethical considering all the ethical violations in the medical field happening at this time. The HeLa cell line developed from her cells was estimated at a whopping 3 billion dollars, and none goes to the family. The family is struggling to afford their own medical care while companies are still profiting off their mother. Even with all this hardship put on the family some good has come out of this malicious act such as when HeLa cells were used to test vaccines for polio saving millions or when telomerase ,an enzyme used to fix DNA, allowed scientists to test anti-cancerous drugs that would have killed normal cells (Popular Science, pars.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay
956 Words | 4 PagesOne of the ironies explored in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the dichotomy between the vast value of the HeLa cell line—which has been used in the development of the polio vaccine, nuclear bomb testing, the
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
988 Words | 4 PagesThe scientists and media that did not know the name Henrietta Lacks but knew the name of the cell line HeLa showed the disregard Scientists had for the Lacks family. In 1951, poor African American women named Henrietta lacks discovered what she thought was a “knot in her stomach” that turned out to be cervical cancer. Doctors thought they could take a few cells from Henrietta without her consent or
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay
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239 Words | 1 PagesHenrietta Lacks was a black tobacco farmer from the south who, in 1950, at the age of 30, she was diagnosed with aggressive cervical cancer. Lacks went to John’s Hopkins medical center for treatment for her cancer. In April of 1951, she underwent surgery to remove the larger tumor on her cervix. Henrietta Lacks, died three days following the surgery. Even though Henrietta Lacks died, her cells from the tumor have lived on and have made a major impact on the biomedical community.
Henrietta Lacks Effect On Society
1411 Words | 6 PagesOn January 29, 1951, an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with Stage 1, Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, after her visit to John Hopkins Hospital. Henrietta began radium treatments which was proven to kill cancer cells and a safer option than surgery, according to her physician Howard Jones. Jones increased Henrietta’s dose of radiation in hopes to decrease the size of the tumors however the treatments were proven ineffective and her skin was burned blacker while the pain grew unbearable until she passed away on October 4, 1951. She left behind her husband David “Day” and five children: Lawrence, Elsie, David Jr, Deborah, and Zakariyya (Joe). This paper will focus on how Henrietta Lack’s and her family’s experience
Henrietta Lacks: An Analysis
624 Words | 3 PagesPart two of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, once again submerges the reader in to the world of HeLa cells. This section emphasizes what occurred with Henrietta’s immortal cells after her death. Along with the many medical discoveries made from these miracle cells, part two delves into the physical and emotional abuse that Henrietta’s children were forced to live with after her passing all while struggling financially while their mother’s cells are being sold for millions of dollars. Skloot continues her phenomenal synopsis of the life of Henrietta Lacks and the stories her cells continue to tell. One of the utmost riveting and critical scenes of this section occurs in the first few pages.
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989 Words | 4 PagesBushra Pirzada Professor Swann Engh-302 October 4th 2015 Rhetorical Analysis: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks who has her cervical cancer. It further goes to tell the audience how Henrietta altered medicine unknowingly. Henrietta Lacks was initially diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951; however, the doctors at John Hopkins took sample tissues from her cervix without her permission. The sample tissues taken from Henrietta’s cervix were used to conduct scientific research as well as to develop vaccines in the suture.
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1020 Words | 5 PagesThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks, aided by journalist Rebecca Skloot. Deborah wanted to learn about her mother, and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty and deep friendship between the unlikeliest people. There had been many books published about Henrietta’s cells, but nothing about Henrietta’s personality, experiences, feeling, life style etc.
Henrietta Lacks Discussion Questions
700 Words | 3 Pages30year old Henrietta Lacks underwent radiation treatment for cervical cancer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore In 1951. During her treatment, George Gey the surgeon who performed the procedure removed pieces of her cervix without her knowledge and sent them to a lab. Her cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, used in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity. Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells ever cloned, some of the first genes ever mapped. They have been used to create some of our most important cancer
Racism In The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
743 Words | 3 PagesRacism in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Imagine your mother, sister, wife, or cousin was diagnosed with cervical cancer and you believed the doctors were doing everything in their power to help her. Only later you discovered her cells were used for research without consent and she was not properly informed of the risks of her treatment due to her race. This story happened and is told by Rebecca Skloot in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot use of narrative and her writing style enhances the understanding of the story. Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital.
Henrietta Lacks Without Her Consent Essay
663 Words | 3 PagesDespite the wrongdoings Henrietta Lacks was put through her cells did a lot to help advance science. Her cells helped develop different types of vaccines, which such as her daughter faced. A lot of good and bad came out of Henrietta’s
Henrietta Lacks And Ethics
462 Words | 2 PagesThe origination of HeLa cells, used in biomedical research for a potential cure for cancer, had made many ground breaking discoveries in science; all thanks to one woman, Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. The history of Mrs. Lacks’s contribution to these studies raised many ethical issues concerning healthcare practice. In the short film, The Way of All Flesh, we learn how these cells were revealed by direct violation of ethical principles. During the 1950s, matters regarding informed consent practices were in their beginning stages of implementation.
Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay
919 Words | 4 PagesIn the case of Henrietta Lacks and her family, the mistreatment of doctors and lack of informed consent defined nearly 60 years of the family’s history. Henrietta Lacks and her children had little to no information about serious medical procedures and the use of Henrietta’s cells in research. Henrietta’s cells launched a multibillion-dollar industry without her consent and doctors even took advantage of her children’s lack of education to continue their research without questions: “[Doctor] did not explain why he was having someone draw blood from Deborah… he wrote a phone number and told her to use it for making more appointments to give more blood” (188). Deborah did not have the knowledge to understand the demands or requests the doctors made of her, and the doctors did not inform her explicitly.
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