hela cells

She is part of the reason why science has made it to where it has. She is the reason doctors can make cures for diseases. She is the contributing factor to most of the discoveries made, In regards to health and research. She is Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta unfortunately had cervical cancer and upon going to the doctors in the 1950’s, cells from her tumor were sent for research without her consent; and unfortunately the credit/rights that her and her family deserves have been thrown in the air. Medical procedures of the 1950s and 60s caused people to question if what was being done was moral or ethical for the family. Upon observation of the arguments made by the people and the scientific community, it is simple to see the fine line that people’s views may be approaching. HeLa (cells of Henrietta Lacks) have made these views hard to justify, split between the needs of the scientific community and the rights of the people and their cells; justification floats in space without a clear understanding of moral and ethical rights verse the needs of the scientific community. HeLa cells raise this controversy stirring in everyone’s mind.
The Scientific Community requires cells and patients contribution to perform experiments and move forward in the field of research, development, and experimentation. While Henrietta Lacks was checked into John Hopkins hospital, “one of the top hospitals in the country” (skloot 15), she was diagnosed for cervical cancer. At this stage her cancer was not curable. At the time Gorge Gey was taking sample of cells from all patients, black or white, and using them to try to grow in a culture medium. Gey’s discoveries helped the scientific community grow and learn more. Henrietta lacks was one of the patients that had her cells used in the lab. A piece of her cancer was cut off and sent in with the name HeLa, standing for the name of the patient it was from. It just so happened that Henrietta’s cells took to the culture and grew. This made here