Henrietta Lacks Quotes
“Like many doctors of his era, TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment.” (29)
“‘Now I don’t know for sure if a spirit got Henrietta or if a doctor did it,’ Cootie said, ‘but I do know that her cancer wasn’t no regular cancer, cause regular cancer don’t keep on growing after a person die.'” (82)
“Though no law or code of ethics required doctors to ask permission before taking tissue from a living patient, the law made it very clear that performing an autopsy or removing tissue from the dead without permission was illegal.” (89)
“It wasn’t routinely taught in medical schools, and many American researchers—including Southam—claimed not to know it existed. Those who did know about it often thought of it as “the Nazi code,” something that applied to barbarians and dictators, not to American doctors.” (131)
1. “I've spent years staring at [Henrietta's] photo, wondering what kind of life she led, what happened to her children, and what she'd think about cells from her cervix living on forever - bought, sold, packaged, and shipped by the trillions to laboratories around the world” (p.1).
2. “The Lackses challenged everything I thought I knew about faith, science, journalism, and race” (p.7).
3. “Like many doctors of his era, (Richard Wesley) TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment” (p.29).
4. “But Henrietta's cells weren't merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity … Soon, George told a few of his closest colleagues that he thought his lab might have grown the first immortal human cells. To which they replied, Can I have some? And
“‘Now I don’t know for sure if a spirit got Henrietta or if a doctor did it,’ Cootie said, ‘but I do know that her cancer wasn’t no regular cancer, cause regular cancer don’t keep on growing after a person die.'” (82)
“Though no law or code of ethics required doctors to ask permission before taking tissue from a living patient, the law made it very clear that performing an autopsy or removing tissue from the dead without permission was illegal.” (89)
“It wasn’t routinely taught in medical schools, and many American researchers—including Southam—claimed not to know it existed. Those who did know about it often thought of it as “the Nazi code,” something that applied to barbarians and dictators, not to American doctors.” (131)
1. “I've spent years staring at [Henrietta's] photo, wondering what kind of life she led, what happened to her children, and what she'd think about cells from her cervix living on forever - bought, sold, packaged, and shipped by the trillions to laboratories around the world” (p.1).
2. “The Lackses challenged everything I thought I knew about faith, science, journalism, and race” (p.7).
3. “Like many doctors of his era, (Richard Wesley) TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment” (p.29).
4. “But Henrietta's cells weren't merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity … Soon, George told a few of his closest colleagues that he thought his lab might have grown the first immortal human cells. To which they replied, Can I have some? And