The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lack

I recently finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack, a biography about Henrietta Lacks and how human tissue was taken without consent then used for medical research. Henrietta Lacks, was a poor colored woman with very little education, who died from uremic poisoning, due to the treatment for cervical cancer October of 1951 at age 31. In January of 1951, Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins Hospital because she found a knot on her womb and was bleeding and pain in her abdomen. Johns Hopkins is known for being the best research hospital around, Henrietta did not go because it was the best place to go, she went because it was the closest hospital that treated color patience. She was first diagnosed with abnormal pain and bleeding in her

At that time there were no laws in effect to protect people from doctors, so this was not illegal, most do argue that it was morally. The samples were given to Dr. George Otto Gey, who later saw an unusual quality in the cells. Most cell only survived a few days, Henrietta’s cells were sturdier then the average cell. Gey isolated and multiplied a specific cell, creating a new cell line. He named the cell strain HeLa from her first two letters from her first and last name. The HeLa strain, was and still is the greatest medical contributions ever. Jonas Salk is known for using the HeLa strain to develop the polio vaccine, which igniting mass interest in the

(See Surrogate Decision-Making/No Legal Next of Kin.) A lack of decision- making capacity with inadequate time to find an appropriate proxy without harming the patient, such as a life-threatening emergency where the patient is not conscious. When the patient has waived consent. When a competent patient designates a trusted loved-one to make treatment decisions for him or her. In some cultures, family members make treatment decisions on behalf of their loved-ones. Provided the patient consents to this arrangement and is assured that any questions about his/her medical care will be answered, the physician may seek consent from a family member in lieu of the patient.”