How Did Henrietta Lacks Use Hela Cells In Biomedical Research

There is an undeniable interweaving between the histories of medicine and biomedical research. The two intricate stories can be viewed as one positive history which has brought overall beneficial outcomes for the general well-being of society. However, there is an often overlooked component, one of medical exploitation and manipulation for the purpose of biomedical advances, that is interlaced within these histories. This history is epitomized by the widespread use of HeLa cells in biomedical research. HeLa cells are the first immortal line of human cells, and since their discovery in 1951 have been “the standard laboratory workhorse” (Skloot 4). These cells have been used in countless biomedical research efforts, are actively used in laboratories

She resided in Clover until she was twenty-two years old, when she moved to Turner Station, Maryland with her husband David Lacks and her first two children David Jr. and Elsie. For the duration of Henrietta’s life, she and her family belonged to a lower middle class of working black Americans. In 1951 when Henrietta felt a lump in her lower abdomen she sought out the medical care of the charity hospital, Johns Hopkins. In a pre-civil rights movement America, where segregation and demeaning of black Americans was prevalent in society, the colored ward of Hopkins was both the only place that would treat her and the only treatment she could

Her oldest daughter, Elsie, was a “touched” child who suffered from some degree of mental retardation and epilepsy (23). Despite the conditions, Henrietta loved her daughter unconditionally. Therefore, while they lived in Clover she provided Elsie with the around the clock care and supervision she required. As Elsie grew older she “never talked” and didn’t develop like other children (44). Henrietta tried to be able to continue to care for Elsie, even going as far as taking her to “revival meetings so preachers in tents could lay hands on Elsie to heal her” (44). Despite all efforts, Elsie remained the same. This coupled with the fact that Henrietta now had two more babies, Deborah and Joe, led to Elsie’s institutionalization at Crownsville State Hospital. Losing Elsie was “worse than anything that happened to her” (45). It is evident that Henrietta did not want to send her daughter away, but the limited resources provided for people of her race and social standing left her no other option, as was the case to others in similar situations to