According to R. Skloot's book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," answer the following questions: 1. In the 1950s, African Americans were often treated differently in the healthcare delivery system. Select an example of how Henrietta Lacks was treated in a biased way in terms of her medical care; then discuss whether and how this bias has been corrected today. 2. Do you think that the family of Henrietta Lacks has a right to the commercial use of her cells? Explain. 3. Consider the recent WSJ article related to the lack of inclusion of blacks in genetic research. Explain whether and how this exclusion of blacks in emerging biomedical research relates to how HeLa cells were used for medical research over 50 years ago. (Article: "Genetic Studies' Lack of Diversity May Lead to Misdiagnoses, Researchers Say" by Amy Dockser Marcus)
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According to R. Skloot’s book The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, the family of Henrietta Lacks was often treated differently in the health delivery system. Select an example of how Henrietta Lacks was treated in a biased way in terms of her medical care; then Show more…
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In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died after a long battle with cervical cancer. Doctors cultured her cells without permission from her family. The story of those cells and of the medical advances that came from them is told in Rebecca Skloot's book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. There are many issues and legislation surrounding the collection and use of human tissue samples. Examine the evolution of laws concerning tissue research and comment on the issue of whether or not people should be given legal ownership of and/or control over their tissues.
Josee P.
1. Why does Sadie think Henrietta hesitated before seeing a doctor? 2. Skloot uses vivid imagery and details to describe Henrietta's childhood in Clover. Locate a passage that you found particularly effective or memorable, and explain why you selected it. 3. Compare the medical terms describing Elsie's condition with the terms used by Henrietta's friends and family. What are the connotations of the two sets of terms? 4. How did doctors justify using patients in public hospital wards as medical research subjects without obtaining their consent or offering them financial compensation? Do you agree or disagree with their reasoning? Explain your answer 5. Were cells taken only from black patients? What demographic information described the research patients of Hopkins? 6. What important information did Henrietta's doctor fail to give her before starting her cancer treatment? How did she react when this information was eventually shared with her? 7. In your own words, explain the paradox "benevolent deception." 8. Where does Cootie think Henrietta's cancer came from? 9. What was Henrietta's final request? What does this request tell you about her?
Shaiju T.
In class, we discussed the famous cancer cell line known as HeLa cells, which were named after Henrietta Lacks, the woman that the cells were isolated from. Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 and treated at Johns Hopkins. At the time, little was known about cancer genetics, so the doctors treated her cancer with high doses of radiation, which induces DNA damage and was a standard treatment option at the time. Unfortunately, the treatment caused Henrietta's cancer to become more aggressive and she died just a few short months later. Since then, many researchers have studied her cells and found that her cancer was caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Moreover, we now know that HPV causes cancer by expressing two proteins (E6 and E7) that inhibit the function of two different tumor suppressor proteins, p53 and Rb. Why do you think that the radiation treatment did not work for Henrietta?
Sri K.
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