Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks - Essay Example

? Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks Question One of the most significant ways in which Henrietta Lacks was treated in a different and a biased manner, was the way cell tissues from her body were taken for science research without an informed written consent from her or her family (Skloot, 2010). These cells became celebrities in the world of medical research and have given success to many scientists and science projects. What is even more worrying is that the name of the contributor of the cells was changed, and this as Jeffery (2009) says, is a thing that needs to be changed in the medical research field. This means that apart from her family not getting financial compensation, she did not receive the credit she deserved for giving the world of medical research a base on which so much medical progress has been achieved. Her family did not get informed about the experiment that was being carried out and it was not until a certain researcher wanted a sample of tissues from one member of the Henrietta Lacks family, that the family leant that cells from their mother’s body were still alive not only in John’s Hopkins hospital, but also in tens of thousands of medical laboratories around the world. While the family cannot claim from a legal point of view that they were entitled to any form of compensation, the medical fraternity owed them the courtesy to explain to them about the cells and the research that was being carried out using them (William, 2011). The family was shocked when they were contacted and when news leaked into the media about the so called immortal cells. As Skloot (2010) reports in her book, the use of the term immortal cells to describe the cells taken from Henrietta Lacks cancerous cells caused a lot of confusion for a number of reasons. To begin with, because nobody had taken the time and courtesy to explain to the poor family about the cells, the word immortal was used to describe the cells that made some of them have thoughts of their mother being still alive (fifty years after she was dead and buried). The use of the word cell did not trigger the meaning of cell as in biology, but to a family like Henrietta Lacks’s family which is African-American, the first meaning that came to them was cell as in prison. All this confusion was caused by the fact that nobody was careful in the way the harvesting of Henrietta Lacks cells was done. Question 2 The argument by the members of Henrietta Lacks that they should be compensated for their mother’s cells being used in research can be seen as stemming from heir economic condition. This is especially so considering that they don’t have any legal or even moral ground to claim for financial compensation. However, the medical researchers at John Hopkin’s hospital and the John Hopkin’s as a whole owed it to the family to explain to them about the cells and tell them what was happening to the cells that had been taken from their mother’s body (Skloot, 2010). The way the whole situation was handled by the officials can be seen as being influenced by the social-economic condition of the family (Skloot, 2010). This is a precursor of how future situations like these should be handled and as Gedion (2009) says, medical researchers should be more considerate at the ethics surrounding their research rather than just being concerned by the legal technicalities. If for instance, the Henrietta Lacks had been a rich family from the upper socioeconomic class, there is a higher chance that the case could have been taken more seriously and that the medical researchers who took these cells could have treated the whole case with some sort of respect and ethics. These racial attitudes can be seen as affecting the way institutions treat different people (Maxwell, 2009). Question 3 The feelings that are seen to emanate from Henrietta Lacks case can be directly attributed to the fact that the family is poor, from a minority ethnic group, and one that has probably gone through discrimination in the past. These three factors definitely had a profound effect on the way the family reacted to the whole situation. If it happened to a rich family, and especially a white family, there is a high chance that the reaction could have been different in one way or the other. As Skloot (2010) points out, the family felt that they should be compensated, because their mother’s cells had been used in medical research. However, even in the case that the Henrietta Lacks family was economically stable and white, this could not mean that they wouldn’t feel cheated, especially considering that the issues emanating from the case are not just financial issues. For instance, if a rich white family lost a dear family member to cancer and then fifty years later they receive news that tissues taken from their family member are still alive in lots of laboratories and that they had also been circulated around the world, the family may still react negatively to the news (Gerald, 2009). The human race, even among those who are not very religious, is not well adopted to the new world of science and the case of Henrietta Lacks cells being alive and referred to as immortal cells is one that can cause lots of concerns and issues in almost any family (Winstone, 2011). However, a family with different socioeconomic conditions may have reacted differently from how the Henrietta Lacks reacted. Question 4 Skloot’s book and Southgate’s article seem to have something in common. The main thing that can be seen in both of these pieces of literature is the way the African-Americans are presented as being a marginalized society that is suffering under the supremacy of the white people. More importantly though, the main issue coming from the two authors is the fact that the African-American people have negative beliefs that make them more likely to be in the situations that make them seem to be marginalized. In Skloot’s book for instance, she points out how one day she had a heated argument with one of Henrietta Lacks daughters and how this argument ended with the lady telling Skloot that she had started to wonder whether she is a real human, because she never got angry of cussed. This can be seen as a kind of attitude that can be seen in African-Americans who may have their own beliefs and attitudes that affect the way they react to situations. In comparison to that, Southgate also demonstrates the same kind of thing that Skloot is talking about in her book. She points out to how most African-American households regard swimming and see it as white man’s business. She points out how one particular person says that he was told from an early age that “black men don’t swim”. This kind of stereotyping of the black people by themselves and their own attitude plays a very important role in the way a person from this community may look at themselves as well as life in general. However, while both authors seem to have a central theme on the issue of how the African-Americans are treated in the society, Southgate takes the pain to connect the behavior by the African American people to the oldest memories of slavery, where she points out that black people were not allowed to swim in the days of black slavery, because swimming could increase their chances of escaping from their masters. Skloot on the other hand does not go to the historic aspect of it but only applies the case at hand to demonstrate how attitudes may differ between or among the different socioeconomic classes. In fact, apart from where she points out that the word cells in an African-American family would more likely mean a prison cell, Skloot’s book seems to be dealing with the issues of different social economic classes as opposed to different ethnic groups. Question 5 In Skloot’s book, the way racial attitudes and beliefs affect the behavior of a person can be seen in the way one of the Henrietta Lacks daughters attacks Skloot by accusing her of being a spy for Hopkin’s hospital. When Skloot gets offended by these accusations and responds angrily and cusses seriously, the daughter calms down and tells her that she now believes her and that before that, she did not even think she was a real person. The significance of this incident is that the woman is seen as believing that a person has to be violent and rude to be real. In Southgate’s article on the other hand, the racial attitudes and beliefs that can be seen affecting the way people behave is where one person is seen saying that his family believed that black people don’t swim and that he shouldn’t do it. However, Southgate’s explanation and claim that this fear of water by African-Americans is directly related to the slavery days cannot be easily established to be valid. Question 6 The life that one lives and enjoys is determined by the way they think. While many theories about the oppression of minority groups can be developed and used by many people, the truth is that the quality of one’s life can only be as good as his or her belief. What is very evident in both of these two stories is that poverty of the mind can be worse than economic poverty. Whether Southgate’s theory about how the African-Americans came to be hydrophobic as a community is true or not, the story she gives shows that the way people think is usually important in determining the way these people will live and the quality of life they will live. The same case is seen in Skloot’s book, where the story of Lacks’s family is seen as a major explanation of how attitudes can affect the way people think and the way they live. While Skloot does not say it openly, there is a hidden fact in the way the story of Henrietta Lacks ends. For fifty years, the family did not even know that cells gained from their long dead relative were being used in medical research all over the world. It is possible to rush to conclusions and say that the blame lies with the medical professionals who made the whole thing a hidden issue. However, on another scale, the fact that this happened behind the Lacks family and they didn’t even suspect, may show that people from the lower socioeconomic classes are more likely to be less concerned about issues that affect them even at such a personal level as the health and death of a close member of the family. References Gedion, O. (2009). Managing Medical Reserch: Ethics Redefined. Journla of Medical Research, 76-78. Gerald, O. (2009). Modern Attitudes to Social Issues and Scientific Progress. Journal of Science and Research, 67-69. Jeffery, K. (2009). Modern Medical Reserch: A Look at Ethical Standards. Journal of Modern Professional Ethicas, 29-31. Maxwell, O. (2009). Racail Attitudes in the Modern American State. Journal od Social Development , 89-91. Skloot, R. (2010). Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Pan Macmillan. William, N. (2011). Medical research and Ethical Responsibility. Joural of Medical Research, 23-27. Winstone, P. (2011). Modern Culture and Science. Journal of Socia Studies, 29-34. Read More