Health Archives

Henrietta Lacks’ Medical Records Show the Lack of Privacy

How were journalists able to view Henrietta Lacks’ medical records? What was the status of medical confidentiality and the privacy of patients? How did Henrietta’s family feel about Rebecca Skloot looking at her records? Patient records were not always confidential under federal law, even when codes of ethics required privacy. Henrietta Lacks’ medical records were viewed by her family as well other journalists. Read about the lack of privacy and Skloot’s reading of Henrietta Lacks’ medical records with Deborah’s permission.

HeLa Cells for Sale: Some Profit While the Lacks Struggle

If you buy HeLa cells, who profits? Has the Lacks family ever seen any of the financial benefits from HeLa cells for sale? How did companies like Microbiological Associates make money while the Lacks family struggled? HeLa cells for sale show the potentially high profit from the cells taken from Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells’ price does not include any royalty for the Lacks family. Learn about the inequity of HeLa profits, including how HeLa cells for sale are for commercial profit and not the Lacks family.

Immortal Cells: Scientific and Spiritual Reasons for HeLa

How can a cell be immortal? What is it about Henrietta Lacks’ cells that made them able to stay alive? How did the HeLa cell line revolutionize research but kill Henrietta Lacks? The immortal cells are cells taken from Henrietta Lacks that do not die in the laboratory. The cells continue to reproduce indefinitely, which is why the HeLa cell line is still in use today. Read more about the immortal cells that are laboratory versions of Henrietta Lacks’ cells.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Summary

What can you learn from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks summary? Was Henrietta Lacks just an unfortunate patient? How did her cells impact science forever? What happened to her family? The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book that tells the story of HeLa cells and where they came from. It also sheds light on the inequalities and ethical issues in medicine and research. This Henrietta Lacks book summary highlights the important takeaways. Learn what happened with this The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks summary.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Timeline of Events

What happened during the life of Henrietta Lacks? What was the aftermath of the collection and use of her cells? What is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks timeline of key events from the book? The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of a woman whose cells were taken without permission and continue to be used for profit. This Henrietta Lacks timeline explains what happened to Henrietta Lacks and her cells. Learn more about the aftermath of her death and getting recognition for her contribution to science in the Henrietta Lacks timeline.

Chester Southam Secretly Injected People With Cancer Cells

Why do people have give informed consent before participating in a research study? Is it in part because of Chester Southam’s experiment? How many people did Dr. Chester Southam inject with live cancer cells? Chester Southam was a researcher at Sloan-Kettering who studied HeLa cells to see if you could get cancer from contact with the cells. Chester Southam’s experiment injected live cancer cells into people, many times without their permission. Learn about Dr. Chester Southam and his unethical research, including what happened to him when people found out.

Roland Pattillo: The Doctor Behind Henrietta Lacks Day

Why does the city of Atlanta have a Henrietta Lacks Day? Who is the doctor that advocated for that recognition? Where is Dr. Roland Pattillo now? Roland Pattillo is a gynecologist that organized the first HeLa conference. He was also one of the few African-American students that studied under the doctor that responsible for the spread of HeLa cell cultures. Learn more about Roland Pattillo and his efforts to recognize Henrietta Lacks.

Voluntary Consent in Medical Research: The Murky Situation

What makes it ethical to perform experiments on people? How does a doctor get permission to take blood or tissue samples from a patient? What type of voluntary consent or informed consent is needed? Voluntary consent is when a person willingly participates in a procedure or experiment. Informed consent in research requires the person to know what they’re agreeing to as opposed to just agreeing to do something. Read more about the issue of voluntary consent for Henrietta Lacks and informed consent in research using her cells.

Henrietta Lacks: Ethics Questions Raised by Use of HeLa

What ethics issues were raised by The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? Did researchers have Henrietta Lacks’ consent to use her tissue? How have standards changed? In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, ethics are an important discussion. Henrietta Lacks’ informed consent was not considered in using her tissue for HeLa. Read about consent in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, ethics questions raised, and current informed consent requirements.

HeLa Cells Contamination of Cell Cultures Shocks Scientists

How did HeLa become so widespread? When many cell cultures exhibited similarities to HeLa what did scientists discover? How did the research community address the HeLa cells’ contamination of all cell cultures? Stanley Gartler is a geneticist that presented his finding that all of the most-used cell cultures were HeLa, at least in part. Gartler had discovered HeLa cells’ contamination. It rocked the research community. Find out how HeLa cells contamination occurred and how researchers like Stanley Gartler responded.