Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Genetics influences equality in many ways. In class we learned a couple ways genetics has influenced equality throughout the years. Although this isn’t an issue in the present day, it was during the time of the civil rights movement. An example of how genetics influences equality is shown through the book we read in class.
The novel Henrietta Lacks was about an African American born on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia. She married her cousin, and had five children with him. Henrietta's children meant the world to her and she adored them. Although, she grew up in the 1940s-1960s, which was during the Civil Rights movement. Henrietta had to teach her children why they were being discriminated against and help them learn the right morals to

live life by. Henrietta was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer on January 29, 1951. She was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital by George Gey. From the start of her treatments she felt as if they did not treat her properly because she was African American. This issue had always affected the way African Americans were treated medically. For example, while treating Henrietta, George Gey, snipped two cervical samples, without telling her. Since George Gey did not consult Henrietta before taking her cells this was illegal. Some say he did this act because she was African American, and he did not feel the need to ask. Throughout the book the issue of civil rights was brought up by medical treatments. Despite Henrietta’s fight and the doctors work, she died because of her cancer. She died at Johns Hopkins on October 4, 1951, at the age of 31.
Permission for doctors to use anyone’s cells or body tissue at that time was traditionally not obtained, especially from patients seeking care in public hospitals.

Informed Consent as a doctrine came into practice in the late 1970s, nearly three decades after Henrietta Lacks death. The cells taken from Henrietta Lacks were obtained without her knowledge (Skloot 34). While this was once a common practice, her family was also unaware of the cells for 25 years. Despite this, if the cells were not taken from Henrietta, the polio vaccine would not have been created as soon (Skloot 38). The reason Henrietta was at Hopkins in the first place was because she was black, and there were not many other hospitals around where she could have gotten treated. She also had no money, and Hopkins was a charity hospital. So she was in the public wards. There are studies that have looked at how segregation affected health care delivery (Skloot 39). Henrietta received standard care, however the doctors were not quick to treat her every need. Henrietta was sent home multiple times, eventually she was in so much pain that she refused to leave. One question derived from this is that if Henrietta had been white, would the doctors have taken better care of her? It is possible that they would of found the cancer quicker, or at least treated her for something faster. Sadly, by the time the doctors realized her illness, the cancer had spread too much and she could not be saved. Throughout history, African-American’s and other minority groups have been mistreated and undervalued. If white supremacy had not been an issue Henrietta, and probably hundreds of others could have been

saved.
Rebecca Skloot was a perfect example of somebody who did try to help and figure out why things like this was happening. Since she did try to help out the Lacks family, she actually did try to get the arrangement fixed and try to help them. During the Civil Rights Movement, the challenges that many individuals faced was based upon the color of their skin tone. The bathrooms, water fountains, hospitals and even buses were separated based upon the color of their skin tone. To a certain extent, you could also be discriminated when it came to your rights. Not a lot of states or a lot of individuals actually had the ability to vote or be able to stand up for themselves. When it comes to Henrietta, she had a major impact on the rights and challenges of individuals all around the United States of America. Through science, she also had a major impact since she did become the first individuals whose cells grew in a lab.
Another example of civil and medical mistreatment in the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was when Henrietta’s family was not notified that her cells have been used all around the world (Skloot 25). It is not the doctor’s right to share the medical information with the family, however even Henrietta was not given credit for her cells. Which ultimately hurt the whole family because they could sell the cells for money. When the cells were taken, they were given the codename HeLa, for the first two letters in Henrietta and Lacks. Today, anonymizing samples is a very important part of doing research on cells. But that wasn’t something doctors worried about much in the 1950s, so they weren’t terribly careful about her identity. Her real name didn’t really leak out into the world until the 1970s. This was not fair to the family, however it advanced medical treatment and civil treatment around the world. People realized how wrong Henrietta's family was treated, and wanted to change that.
Henrietta Lacks also allowed for various individuals to change the way within they treat the families of multiple colored families. The Civil Rights Movement was a movement that gave rights to citizens of political, social freedom and equality regardless of the color of your skin. No only did Henrietta Lacks help in the Civil Rights Movement, but she also had a major impact on research and the medical field. Within many individuals who were actually working and trying to grow her cells, it was ethically wrong due to the fact that neither the family nor she actually known what was occurring with Henrietta’s cells. Since Henrietta's family was clueless, they did not know what to do when they found out what was going on. This is where individuals who care for other people regardless of their skin tone come into play. Rebecca Skloot also allowed for individuals to open their eyes and actually see what was going on behind closed doors. During the 19th century, African Americans did not have a lot of rights, neither did they have the ability to stand up for what they thought was right because of genetics.
Since genetics made Henrietta African American, she was discriminated against. In today's time the issue is not as present as it was during the civil rights era, but it still plays a part. There is still discrimination in the world today because of what someone looks like, and that is part of their genome. Since genes cause the way you look, genetics furthers inequality.