George Otto Gey has had major impacts in the biological community. He has accomplished a lot within his lifetime. The world would not be the same without the accomplishments from George Otto Gey. George Otto Gey was born in 1899 on February 7th. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania(“George Gey”). Gey died on November 8th, 1970. He died in Baltimore, Maryland due to pancreatic cancer (“George Gey”). George Gey received his B.S from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins
Choate 1 HeLa Cells in Medical Research and Bioethics Used in scientific research, the HeLa cells are known to be a type of immortal, tissue cultured cell line. A cell line is a group of cells taken from a person and used for scientific research (science.howstuffworks.com). When a cell type is known to be immortal, it refers to the cells being able to divide an indefinite amount of times, when cell survival conditions are met in a laboratory. The first human cell line to survive in a test tube
to return for X-ray treatments as a follow-up. During her treatments, two samples were taken from Lacks cervix without her permission or knowledge one sample was of healthy tissue and the other was cancerous. These samples were given to George Otto Gey. George Otto Grey was a physician and cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins hospital, the same hospital that Henrietta was admitted to.. The cells from the cancerous sample eventually became known as the “ HeLa” immortal cell line ,this cell was a commonly
devastating story of a woman whose cells were collected and cultured without her consent and its wondrous effect within the medical community as well as the equally distressing effect on her family. Preceding the 50s, scientists, specifically Dr. George Otto Gey have been trying without success to cultivate human cells in laboratories for decades. Henrietta Lacks was an African American tobacco farmer who was diagnosed and eventually succumbed from cervical cancer in 1951. Prior to her treatment, Lacks
life in Clover, Virginia in the 1950’s. She was diagnosed with a vicious case of cervical cancer and died on October 4th, 1951. Before she died, a surgeon took samples of her tumor without her knowledge or consent for scientific study. Scientist George Gey was attempting to grow cells that had been removed from the human body, but all the samples collected eventually died. Things changed when he received Henrietta’s tumor cells; unlike other cells, those taken from Henrietta’s tumor reproduced outside
Book review: ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ (by Rebecca Skloot) A. Duckers I6056150 AR&V II Maastricht University 28-05-2014 Introduction ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ is an interesting book for a broad audience. It combines scientific history with the beautiful and tragic story of Henrietta Lacks and her family. Because of its wide range, it would be best to publish this review in a magazine or newspaper that is read by a broad, higher educated audience, since they would be most
understood, but the least they could do is tell them. They could have told them they wasn’t taking their blood to see if they had cancer they should have told them they were taking it for the HeLa cells. I think it was a good thing when I found out that Gey was actually doing research on the cells and not actually trying to get money. I thought this whole time he was probably getting money from it. I think when he was doing his research he was actually trying to help people, not put the Lack’s family through
Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19,1930. She was the youngest child of four and died in 1964 at the age of 34 from pancreatic cancer. She was well known for writing her play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry was influenced by two events from her childhood. She grew up in a middle class household during the Great Depression. During that time her family was considered wealthy. The first event that shaped her was when she was five years old in 1935.On Christmas her parents bought her
case, Henrietta would fall under a lower level compared to the production companies and even Dr. Gey. There are many people like Henrietta who do not have the high level of education or power. Her function was to be a test subject for the researchers. This role is not extremely difficult to obtain and this is why Henrietta Lack’s role was not as important to society as Dr.Gey. When you compare her to Dr. Gey, he has gone through years of schooling to reach that high level of power and education. This
radium inside of her cervix but no one told henrietta that they would be taking samples of her tissue from the tumor and her healthy cervical tissue without her knowledge. Her samples were later given to Dr.George Gey; George Gey was head of the tissue culture research at John Hopkins. Gey and his wife were trying to grow malignant cells outside of the body hoping to use them to cure cancer. She died at John Hopkins on October
tests on Henrietta, he removed two samples of her cervical tissue, one from the tumor and the other was from healthy cervical tissue. After Dr. TeLinde used radiation to kill her cervical cancer, he sent these samples of her cervical tissue to Dr. Gey. The surgeon may have deemed this research advancement as a necessary reason to remove Henrietta’s cervical tissue during her
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a non-fictional novel dedicated to describing the life and experiences of a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks who’s cervical cells became famous for a multitude of reasons. Henrietta was an African American woman born in the 1920’s who developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer and was treated by doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her infamous story began when doctors began treating Henrietta with radium and took tissue samples from her cervix without
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
The power held by individuals and companies plays a heavy role in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Power is held and exerted by those with financial, political, or physical superiority. All characters in the book are in some way affected by power, whether directly or indirectly. Without the absences of power of some individuals, especially Henrietta Lacks, the events in the book would have never transpired. Power is held and exerted or ignored by those with the ability to act upon other people
tissue should belong to the person until removed from the body with consent or no, which greatly complicates the issue. To illustrate, the instance where Dr. Jones at John Hopkins took samples of Henrietta's cervix tumor to use for cancer research by George Guy was a situation in which should be justified as the best course of action Dr. Jones took (53). Not only did the tissue taken provide the medical world a vital resource for research and study, but also it failed to have any negative effects on
women behind the infamous HeLa cells. Her story shows that although privacy is a right that is inherently protected by the law, situations of injustice can still occur. Examples of this in the book include when Henrietta’s cells were given to Dr. Gey without any consent from Day, the situation in which Mr. Golde’s spleen was sold without his permission, as well as when the Lacks family were recontacted and mislead about the reasons they were tested years after Henrietta’s death. In violation of
Imagine having a part of your body taken from you without your permission, and then having those cells that are a part of your body grow and are being processed in labs around the world and then ultimately being used for the highest of research. That is what happens to Henrietta Lacks. In the book, The Immoral Life of Henrietta Lacks, we see Henrietta Lacks and her families story unravel, the numerous hardships that they faced, and the shocking revelation that their relative cells were being used
George Gey didn’t take the cells to make money. He gave the samples to anyone who wanted them, and had a reason to have them, for free. He never made a cent off of Henrietta’s cells. “Johns Hopkins never patented HeLa cells, and therefore does not own the
Private good prevails over public good, as people tend to act in their self-interest. They want what they think will propel their life forward. Private good only gives us a temporary pleasure that influences us to want more. On the other hand, public good generates a sense of contentment to the individual, which can spread to the rest of society. Ideally, public good should be more pursued for an individual to embrace a good life as it encompasses happiness that private good cannot produce.
unconscious, Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr., “shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta’s cervix: one from her tumor, and one from the healthy cervical tissue nearby” and placed the samples in a glass dish (Skloot 33). Her cells were given to George Gey’s lab assistant, Mary Kubicek, who was handling most of the tissue samples at Hopkins. So far, all of the samples Mary Kubicek tried to grow had died. She was handed Henriet... ... middle of paper ... ... when “HPV inserted its DNA into the