More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company they sued in 2021, accusing its leaders of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.
And let’s not forget her cells are the foundation of modern vaccine research, without them we’d still have waves of Polio and who knows what else. Even outside of the financial aspect we owe a lot to Henrietta Lacks as a species.
And it is beyond cruel that she was used like a lab rat, like many Black Americans have been through the country’s history. It’s not about the degree of harm, IMO, sure they didn’t cut off her arms, but she was a systematic victim of our medical industry and given no compensation or credit for the advancements in global medicine during her time.
I’m not sure what to make of the argument- on one hand I get your point for sure, no one wants to be profited off of. That said, she could not have possibly been credited in her time as she passed in the same year to biopsy was performed. Furthermore, the cell line was taken from the remaining tissue for her biopsy, which was destined to be destroyed or discarded. I think this argues against the idea that she was uniquely victimized.
This is certainly not to discount her contribution, it’s just that the harm here (lack of informed consent) was pervasive and widespread. If there’s another another harm committed, please enlighten.