Hela Cells

In the nonfiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot argues that the Lacks family should be compensated for the exploited use of Henrietta’s Cells. It is unfortunate that the Lacks family did not know that research was being done on Henrietta’s cells, which made the family feel like they were betrayed by doctors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, but it was a common practice of doctors in the 1950s and consent was not required for research as it is today. Also, it is unfair that Samuel Reader and Monroe Vincent, the founders of Microbiological associates, a cell distribution company, made millions off of selling HeLa cells. However, it is evident that just because a family felt like they were being cheated by doctors and related to Henrietta, they should not receive compensation since they made no scientific contribution to the medicines and technologies created from the use of the HeLa cells. The research done on these cells makes it apparent that if the Lacks family knew that researchers were using Henrietta’s cells, researches would not have been able to find cures for epidemics that killed millions of people. The Lacks family should not be compensated because they made no
I believe that if anyone should have received compensation for HeLa cells, it should be George Gey because he found that the cells were ‘immortal’ and sent them to researches for free to improve the wellbeing of the world. Without Gey, the medical world would be far behind and the amount of lives saved from the vaccines created on these cells should be enough saved for the Lacks