Henrietta Lacks Families Website
The focus of my research paper is to inform readers whom Mrs. Lacks was and the injustice that happened with her and to prove she deserves recognition. In order to entirely grasp my topic one must know who Mrs.Lacks was. For this reason I’m using The Lacks Family’s official website that introduces her. This will help me introduce the topic in my research paper.
The source provides Mrs.Lacks background information to help lead the topic. Explains that she was a native of rural southern Virginia, and lived in, Maryland. She was admitted to the John Hopkins’s hospital due to abdominal pain and vaginal spotting. She soon died of cervical cancer in 1951. The source delves into the injustice that was done with Mrs.Lacks it says
Not all of Henrietta Lacks died that day. She unknowingly left behind a piece of her that still lives today—it’s called the HeLa cell. Her cells were taken and used for medical research without her consent. And for more than 20 years after her death Henrietta’s family would learn how science retrieved her cells and of her enormous contribution to medicine and to human life.
The website here shows that after she died her cells were studied for medical research and her family wasn’t aware of it until after twenty years. The cells were given the name HeLa cells as a bit of recognition to her by putting her first name Henrietta, and last name Lacks, together. The next part can help me prove that Mrs.Lacks deserves recognition for her contributions made and her family deserves some sort of profit because the source says, “Even though Henrietta’s cells launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, the family never saw any of the profits or that He...
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...lood” and that the shot was for “therapeutic”, healing the disease. However the spinal cap was actually for insight to infection linked to the brain. The source also says “The Tuskegee scientists wanted to continue to study how the disease spreads and kills. The experiment lasted four decades, until public health workers leaked the story to the media”. The quote corresponds to Mrs.Lacks because her family wasn’t aware and the men were clueless also with the experiment. The Lacks family and Rebecca Skloot who wrote the book about her made Mrs.Lacks story go viral and for the African American men the media with the help of health workers made the story go viral. The men were also given burial insurance for participating but the Lacks family can’t even afford health insurance or didn’t see any profit for Mrs.Lacks contribution to the medical and science world.
The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the result of years of research done by Skloot on an African American woman with cervical cancer named Henrietta Lacks. Cells from Lacks’ tumor are taken and experimented on without her knowledge. These cells, known as HeLa cells, are the first immortal human cells ever grown. The topic of HeLa cells is at the center of abundant controversial debates. Despite the fact that her cells are regarded as, “one of the most important advancements in the last hundred years” (4), little is actually known about the woman behind the cells. Skloot sets out on a mission to change this fact and share the story of the woman from whom the cells originate and her family as they deal with the effects these cells have on them.
The family first heard that Henrietta’s cells were alive and being sent around the world, twenty-two years after Henrietta’s death. After discovering that Henrietta’s cells were in circulation, the family began to blame John Hopkins for taking Henrietta’s cells without permission and commercializing the cells to make multi-million dollar industry, while her family was living in poverty without health insurance. The John Hopkins Hospital has made various statements stating that the hospital never received funds for the HeLa cells specifying that Gey donated all of his HeLa cells samples to fellow researchers. Therefore, the sole benefactors of the HeLa cells profits are the biotechnology companies, which sell vials of HeLa cells for up to ten thousand
In order to fully understand the significance of the life of Henrietta Lacks, one must first understand the nature of the historical moment in which she lived, and died. Henrietta Lacks was a poor, African American woman born in 1920; Henrietta lived in Clover, Virginia, on a tobacco farm maintained by many generations of relatives. This historical moment can best be understood when evaluated using a structural analysis; a structural analysis is an examination of multiple components which form an organization; structural analyses often focus on the goals and purpose of the organization in question. Henrietta and her family were greatly affected by structural violence, a type of systematic violence exerted via legislation and discrimination. Often following systematic violence is a separate type of violence, known as symbolic violence; this occurs when structural violence is viewed as normal based on media representation or popular
While doctors and scientists were making millions of dollars through HeLa research, Henrietta’s family was living in poverty. Lawrence Lacks, Henrietta’s firstborn child, says, “Hopkins say they gave them cells away, but they made millions! It’s not fair! She’s the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother so important to science, why can’t we get health insurance?” (pg.168). Someone who disagrees with this standpoint may argue that scientists had been trying for years to develop the perfect culture medium and had a much more hands on experience with the cells (pg.35), therefore, they should be receiving the earnings from any outcomes the HeLa cells may produce. While the scientists were in fact the brains behind the scientific advances, the family should be acknowledged on behalf of Henrietta Lacks. These successes in science would not have been possible without the origin of the cells: Henrietta Lacks. For some of the family, the primary focus was not even the profit. “Since they gone ahead and taken her cells and they been so important for science, Deborah thought, least they can do is give her credit for it.” (pg. 197). Here, Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s fourth born child, makes it clear that her primary concern is getting her mother the recognition that she deserves for her
....S. Public Health Service advanced medical technology, it came at a high cost. A high cost that resulted in many African-Americans dead and a breach of trust for medical professionals. In the notable experiments of Henrietta Lacks, The Tuskegee Syphilis Men, and The Pellagra Incident, medical professions in no way protected the lives of these individuals. In fact, they used the medical advances discovered as a result of the human experimentations as a shield to mask the unethical decisions. Medical professionals targeted the African-American population and used their ignorance as a means to advance medical technologies. This in no way upholds the ethics that medical professionals should display. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks vividly exhibits the how the United States Public Health Service used, abused, and ultimately destroyed the African-American community.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta Lacks. In the early 1951 Henrietta discovered a hard lump on the left of the entrance of her cervix, after having unexpected vaginal bleeding. She visited the Johns Hopkins hospital in East Baltimore, which was the only hospital in their area where black patients were treated. The gynecologist, Howard Jones, indeed discovers a tumor on her cervix, which he takes a biopsy off to sent it to the lab for diagnosis. In February 1951 Henrietta was called by Dr. Jones to tell about the biopsy results: “Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I”, in other words, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Before her first radium treatment, surgeon dr. Wharton removed a sample of her cervix tumor and a sample of her healthy cervix tissue and gave this tissue to dr. George Gey, who had been trying to grow cells in his lab for years. In the meantime that Henrietta was recovering from her first treatment with radium, her cells were growing in George Gey’s lab. This all happened without the permission and the informing of Henrietta Lacks. The cells started growing in a unbelievable fast way, they doubled every 24 hours, Henrietta’s cells didn’t seem to stop growing. Henrietta’s cancer cell grew twenty times as fast as her normal healthy cells, which eventually also died a couple of days after they started growing. The first immortal human cells were grown, which was a big breakthrough in science. The HeLa cells were spread throughout the scientific world. They were used for major breakthroughs in science, for example the developing of the polio vaccine. The HeLa-cells caused a revolution in the scientific world, while Henrietta Lacks, who died Octob...
In 1951, the sickness of a poor African American woman named Henrietta Lacks -also know as HeLa- would go on to change the face of scientific research; without her consent. Henrietta Lacks went into John Hopkins Hospital in hopes of medical treatment, but instead her cells were unlawfully stolen from her and used for scientific advances in the world of medicine for the creations of the polio vaccine, cell cloning, vitro fertilization, and gene mapping. Long after Henrietta's death, Henrietta's family was forced to live a life of poverty without medical insurance simply because they could not afford it although their mothers cells had yielded billions of dollars due to its advances in the medical world. The scientific community and the media
Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.
Henrietta Lacks’ story is disturbingly similar to that of the Law and Order episode, Immortal. Particularly, they both share the same basic premise. In Rebecca Skloot’s account of Henrietta’s life, she explains. “. . . though no one had told Henrietta that TeLinde was collecting samples or asked if she wanted to be a donor, [Dr. Lawrence Wharton, Jr.] picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of ...
..., the name of Henrietta Lacks needs to be introduced to the world since she is the woman who generated HeLa cells, because the name of the person who generated HeLa cells is still unknown. By doing this, her family will be honored and respected by others.
HeLa cells were one of the greatest medical inventions that came about for the scientific field and yet the woman behind this medical feat is not fully remembered and honored. Her cells and tissue were taken away from her without consent and more than that, she was exploited for being black and not questioning what the doctor was doing. Her family suffered through countless years of agonizing pain in which they were misinformed about where and what her cells were being used for. Yes, HeLa cells changed the way we view medicine today, but only at the cost of creating one of the greatest controversies of owning ones body.
The distrust between the African American community and white medicine has been a factor far before Henrietta, but her story definitely contributed to the long history. Had Henrietta been white, I am almost sure that she would be a national hero and historical figure. Through this course was my first time even coming across this story, but I want more to know about it. If the cure for cancer is ever found it would only be fair to give Henrietta over half the credit. Nevertheless, we are still making strides towards racial equality as it goes hand in hand with informed consent. We have to educate more African Americans on what informed consent is so that there are no more cases like Henrietta. You have the right to know what is being done or not being done to your body, and you should have the option to not only decide your fate, but understand the pros and cons of each
The story of Henrietta Lacks and her family is one that raises many questions about ethics, consent, medical treatment, and family rights. The decisions made by the scientists and doctors surrounding HeLa research have had lasting impacts in the Lacks family. The question I have chosen to address is what change would have helped the Lacks children the most. I feel the most influential piece to the Lacks children’s suffering was being raised by Ethel. This portion of their life was filled with physical and emotional abuse that led to destructive behavior. This behavior would also play a role in the anger toward HeLa researchers and anyone else who did harm to the family or left them in the dark. Although questions about their mother, financial
This section is used to demonstrate to the reader the enormous effects of her death to both her family and science. Immediately following Henrietta's death, Dr. Gey is anxious to take as many samples from her body as possible. However, he must first obtain permission from her husband for an autopsy. Henrietta's husband, Day, is tricked into giving permission. He is told the autopsy will provide test results that may help his children in the future. During the autopsy, Gey's assistant Mary Kubicek takes notice to Henrietta's painted toenails and realizes that HeLa cells belong to an actual person. She says, "they came from a live woman" (Skloot 91). A few days after the autopsy, Henrietta's body is sent from Baltimore to Clover. Henrietta is buried a few days later in an unmarked grave alongside her mother in Lacks Town. Her death is swift and little mourning is conducted by the family. By placing this section second, the reader gains insight into Henrietta's family. Her children are treated poorly and her husband is absent most of the time following her death. This section is important in understanding and gaining insight into the people closest to
Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman, was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920. No one knows at this time why she changed her name to Henrietta later in life. She was born in Roanoke Virginia. Her family was extremely poor and life was not easy for the Lacks family. After, Henrietta’s mothers died while giving birth to her tenth child, the family then moved to a tobacco farm in Clover, Virginia. The children were then disbursed throughout the family and Henrietta was sent to live with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks, on the farm, who was caring at the time for her older cousin David Day Lacks. At the age of fourteen she gave birth to her first of five children by her first cousin David Lacks. Education at that time was not a priority for the Lacks family. Henrietta only had a six grade education. Now that we have some basic background on Henrietta Lacks, let’s take a look at her diagnosis and death.