Hela Cells

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Recommended: What is the meaning of ethics

Ethics is most commonly thought of as rules for determining what is considered right and wrong. Most people are never formally taught the difference between the two, for it is something learned though experience, usually reinforced by parents and other adults throughout one’s childhood. It provides guidelines for responsible behavior, clearly identifying the acceptable from the unacceptable. However, how ethics is defined changes our values as a society evolve. Consequently, what is ethical is greatly determined by one’s perspective. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, an account of an African-American woman from Virginia, whose cancer cells were collected for research during her treatment for the cervical cancer that eventually took her …show more content…

Until Skloot took it upon herself to investigate the history behind the HeLa cells, there was not much information about who Henrietta’s life before her contribution to the scientific world. In a sense, HeLa cells dehumanized Henrietta, “everything was always just about the cells and [no one] even worried about her name and if HeLa was even a person” (Skloot, 122). Rather than being recognized as a mother, a daughter, a courageous woman who fought cancer, she was only known for the cells that were taken from her tumor. Henrietta did not live to see all of the people that her cells helped or the “multi-billion dollar industry” that became of HeLa cells (Skloot, 208). While her family struggled to make ends meet, never having enough money for health insurance, companies reaped the benefits of HeLa cells. Additionally, the family did not know about Henrietta’s cells until scientists began using her husband and children to further their research on HeLa cells (Skloot, 384). Continuously, the Lacks Family was being taken advantage of by the scientific world, never receiving compensation compensation for the profits HeLa cells generated. While the companies were conducting ground-breaking research to save millions of people’s lives, the Lacks family failed to receive proper medical care. It seems like there is not much harm done considering HeLa cells were saving millions of lives and the Lacks family were just a small group of people suffering. However, is it really ethical to save all of these lives knowing that the family responsible are not receiving proper medical

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    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

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  • Henrietta Lacks: The Scientific Community And The Media

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    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

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    At the time the tissue samples were collected from Henrietta Lacks she was an individual capable of deliberation about personal goals and of acting under the direction of such deliberation (Belmont Report, 1979). By collecting the samples without Henrietta’s sufficient consent she was denied of her freedom of choice. She was not given the opportunity for her decisions

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  • Henrietta Lacks Essay

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  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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    Although she was taken from the world too soon, Henrietta Lacks was a warm hearted woman, and though unbeknownst to her, she would pave the way for the medical field and greatly expand our understanding of one of the nation’s greatest killers; cancer. In 1951 people did not talk about cancer lightly; cancer was a very touchy subject, especially for those who knew they couldn’t receive treatment once they had been diagnosed. When Lacks went to the hospital because of a “knot on her womb” she never thought that it would grow into a full fledge tumor that would end up taking her life. Henrietta lived a simple yet happy life which consisted of working on the farm, loving her husband, and raising children, and she was not going to ruin the lifestyle she knew so well by telling her family that she had cancer; it was just unheard of.

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  • Analysis Of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

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    At first glance, the harvesting of cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks ' tumor seemed like no big deal. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks reports many examples of violations of the Lackses’ privacy, such as the retrieval of her cancer cells, and being misinformed about her inability to have children after treatment. After Henrietta’s death, Skloot describes Mary Kubicek being asked to assist with Henrietta’s autopsy to retrieve more cells. Skloot describes Mary’s reaction, “When I saw toenails …I thought, Oh jeez, she’s a real person… it hit me for the first time that those cells we’d been working with all this time and sending all over the world, they came from a live woman. I’d never thought of it that way” (Skloot, 2010, page 91). When Mary is confronted with Henrietta’s humanity, Skloot shows that when doctors and scientists dissociate their work, their human subjects are at the cost. When morals come into play, everything changes and Skloot reinforces

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  • Theme Of Medical Ethics In The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

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    Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, depicts the violation of medical ethics from the patient and researcher perspectives specifically when race, poverty, and lack of medical education are factors. The novel takes place in the southern United States in 1951. Henrietta Lacks is born in a poor rural town, Clover, but eventually moves to urban Turner Station. She was diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins hospital where cells was unknowingly taken from her and used for scientific research. Rebecca Skloot describes this when she writes, “But first—though no one had told Henrietta that TeLinde was collecting sample or asked she wanted to be a donor—Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta's cervix: one from her tumor, and one from the healthy cervical tissue nearby. Then he placed the samples in a glass dish” (33). The simple act of taking cells, which the physicians did not even think twice about, caused decades

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  • Henrietta Lacks Compensation

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    On the concept of feasibility, disputes regarding practicality make reparation impossible. The fundamental definition of “family” yields the question of deciding which members of the Lacks family should be eligible for remuneration. Would compensation conclude with Lacks’s immediate kin or expand to extended family? Her children Lawrence Lacks, Sonny Lacks, and Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman would undoubtedly receive restitution, but the passing of daughters Elsie Lacks and Deborah Lacks complicate the case for direct descendants. Hence, no just method exists to determine which relatives would qualify for restitutions. Additionally another hindrance to compensation arises: who should be held accountable for repaying the Lacks family? The default culprit Johns Hopkins merely freely distributed HeLa to other laboratories, never garnering any profit from the cells. Hundred of research institutions across the globe have received samples of HeLa; thus, tracking down each individual laboratory would be next to impossible. Even if that feat was feasible, what monetary value should be compensated? No single individual or organization has the authority to dictate an appropriate amount that can simultaneously satisfy both family and compensator as well as solve the ethical

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  • Critical Analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

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    The story about Henrietta Lacks is the evidence that the ethics of medical processes need to be improved. For a long time, many patients have been victims of malpractice. Sometimes, the doctors still can do anything without the agreement from patients. Any medical institution needs to hold the integrity on any consent form that is signed by a patient. To summarize, the story of Henrietta Lacks could be the way to improve the standardization and equality of medical institutions in the future.

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  • Henrietta Lacks Conflict Theory

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    Henrietta Lacks is known as immortal because her cells are still being used to conduct research. On February 5th, 1951 Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with malignant cervical cancer that was treated with harsh radiation. During her treatment and surgery of the cancer, she had a biopsy that collected a small portion of her cervical cells. Henrietta’s cells were special because they were able to self multiply under the right conditions. Her cells continue to be reproduced and sold all around the world for research. The question is should Henrietta and her family be compensated for her time and cells? This question will be analyzed from two different perspectives, which is the functionalist and a conflict theory perspective. In this

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  • Book Review: The Immoral Life of Henrietta Lacks

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    Henrietta Lacks was born on August 18, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. She stayed with her grandfather who also took care of her other cousins, one in particular whose name is David (Day) Lacks. As Henrietta grew up, she lived with both her Grandpa Tommy and Day and worked on his farm. Considering how Henrietta and Day were together from their childhood, it was no surprise that they started having kids and soon enough got married. As the years continued, Henrietta noticed that she kept feeling like there was a lump in her womb/cervix and discovered that there was a lump in her cervix. Soon enough, Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins Medical Center to get this check and learned that she had cervical cancer. But here is where the problem arises, Henrietta gave full consent for her cancer treatment at Hopkins, but she never gave consent for the extraction and use of her cells. During her first treatment TeLinde, the doctor treating Henrietta, removed 2 sample tissues: one from her tumor and one from healthy cervical tissue, and then proceeded to treat Henrietta, all the while no one knowing that Hopkins had obtained tissue samples from Henrietta without her consent. These samples were later handed to ...

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  • Emotions In The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

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    Back in the day research was done on people without them knowing just like what was done to Henrietta, but not to the same extent. Although before Lacks, as stated in the book, cells were pulled from other people but did not survive and thrive like Lacks cells did. I knew before I read the book about research being done on African Americans for syphilis research with some of them knowing and some of them clueless as to what was going on (Skloot). They were all men who initially did not sign consent and this study ended up lasting 40 years (Centers for Disease and Control Prevention). I unfortunately had never heard of Henrietta Lack prior to reading this book and that worries me. I cant believe I had never heard about Henrietta Lacks or the HeLa cells, when she has such an important role in our modern medicine and vaccines. Henrietta is one of the main reasons we ha...

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  • Why Is Henrietta Lacks Unethical

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    “Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of clinical medicine and in scientific research. ... These values include the respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice.” The key-word that stands out to me in that definition is respect, I believe that it is safe to say that the doctors at john hopkins university had little to no respect for mrs Lacks lacks in order to take her cells without her consent. Many people are able to argue that considering the fact that John Hopkins hospital in baltimore maryland is a public hospital then henrietta Lacks did not really have much right in determining what her cells may be used for or even if they could be used at all. Though this is a valid argument, it still does not deny the fact that the doctors at john hopkins hospital took her cells and made a profit with them and were able to save millions of lives and not give her anything public recognition nor a penny to neither her nor her

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  • The Hela Cells

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1960s the HeLa cells were everywhere. In the 1960s the scientist wondered since the cells grew so fast and lived on earth so well if they would live in space. They got the idea to send the Hela cells to space. They sent several vials into space by the Discoverer XVII when it went. They discovered that when the HeLa cells went to space they became more powerful and divided faster every time they went to space. Several years later in 1965 they took equal amounts from the HeLa cells and cells from a mouse. The scientists done this to study to see what the genes would do. Harris also took HeLa cells and chicken cells, but they discovered they couldn’t reproduce.

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