HeLa Cell
The Immortal HeLa Cells
And the Unlawful Ways in Which They Were Attained
How many times have you heard of the desire to be immortal? Well, in her
own way, Henrietta Lacks has achieved that goal. Even though she died in
1957 of aggressive cervical cancer, the cells taken from one of her tumors in
John Hopkins Hospital have lived on forever. HeLa cells named after the first
2 letters of Henrietta's first and last name, are the first cells to continue to
reproduce and survive in a petri dish. They have helped create vaccines for
Polio, tested in outer space, and mass produced for scientific research around
the world. One would think that since the cell and tissue trading business in
medicine is a multi-billion dollar industry, the Lacks' family would be highly
imbursed for the use of these highly effective immortal cells. Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true for Henrietta's family. In fact, they have struggled throughout the years and couldn't even afford health insurance for some time. The descendants of a woman that had changed medicine as greatly as Henrietta couldn't even afford healthcare.
Although Henrietta's cells have made great leaps in medicine, I find it unethical to use her cells because it lacks her consent. She made these breakthroughs unknowingly with no gain to her family. Johns Hopkins basically put this "sacrifice for society" upon her. Yes, certain things must be done for the greater good of all, but we have a right to choose whether or not we want to make that sacrifice. This is an option not given to Henrietta and then on top of that her family was not reimbursed.
We appreciate your opinion on how it is unethical for Henrietta's cells to be used without her permission. You brought up very strong points and a great argument of how unjustified it is. Maybe you can elaborate on what progress has been made with the family right now? But otherwise you made a great blog!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog! I completely agree with your stance the the unfairness of how the Lacks family was treated and even so, the great medical advancements that have been made through the use of the HeLa cells. The only thing that i would elaborate on is explaining the norm for these type of procedures back then. Was what the hospital back then, taking her cells without proper permission and using them in research, considered the norm/proper procedure or was it considered unethical even back then? Great Job with everything though!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe agree with all the assertions made in this blog. Our only point to bring up is that the use of cells without consent was a common practice in the 1950's. While we look back at this practice now, it would be totally unethical to do this. Yet, during that time it was something that doctors did to combat diseases like polio. All in all, the creation of charity funds and donations to the family are helpful but do not make up for the great advances in medicine and science that HeLa cells have provided.
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