The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Ch 23-27

Analyze the last paragraphs of this chapter. What does Hsu's request reveal about her attitude towards the Lackses? What does Skloot reveal by ending the chapter with Hsu's request?

She did not care about scientist ignoring the family feelings.She have a rude attitude . Her request was " I wouldn't mind to go back and get more blood"

How did Deborah react after reading about her mother's death?

She felt apart, started to spend day crying and she stop to sleep.

In spite of her deliberate decision to not read her mother's medical records, Deborah Lacks still learned extremely upsetting details about her mother's illness and autopsy. Describe how Deborah found out about her mother's painful death.

She found Gold's book and they had details about Henrietta death.

Why did Deborah begin researching her mother's cells? What effect did her research have on her?

She wants to fight Hopkins because they did not care about her mother, Her family has struggled and was robbed.

What were some of Deborah's fears and concerns after she found out that her mother's cells were still alive?

She was afraid that the same thing that happened to her mother, happen with her.

How did Bobette find out about HeLa?

She was visiting a friend called Gardenia, and she was talking with Gardenia's bother in law.

Why did the Lacks family think the doctors were taking their blood?

They thought the doctors were testing them for cancer.

According to Stevenson, why did scientists develop the argument that HeLa cells are no longer human?

They want to explore whether henrietta's cells might hold the key to human life extension- perhaps even immortality- and headlines once again claimed that scientists had found the fountain of youth.

Why did researchers want DNA samples from Henrietta's family?

They wanted to recognize which cells belonge to Henriettas and which do no.

Paraphrase the paragraph in Rogers's article that the Lacks family found extremely upsetting. What conclusion did they draw about George Gey and Johns Hopkins?

It was suspected that Gey and Hopkins had stolen Henrietta's cells so they could profit financially from them.

How long had Henrietta been dead when her family found out that her cells were still alive?

22 years

Explain the Hayflick limit.

A concept that helps to explain the mechanisms behind cellular aging. The concept states that a normal human cell can only replicate and divide forty to sixty times before it cannot divide anymore, and will break down by programmed cell death or apoptosis.

How have laws regarding medical privacy changed since the early 1980s?

At that time was not illegal for a journalist publish medical information that he got. On this days that is illegal.

Why did Deborah choose not to request a copy of her mother's medical records?

Because she was afraid about what she might find on them and how that will afect her

Why did advances in genetic research necessitate establishing the legal requirement that doctors or researchers obtain informed consent documentation prior to taking DNA samples from patients for research?

Because the patients were exposed to injuries physicaly or psicological and their were expose

Describe the changes that had taken place in the lives of Henrietta's children by 1980.

Deborah was working hard to raise he children, she also divorce and get married again. Zakarriyya was out of prison with the same attitude he had before. Sonny was selling drugs, the police catch him and sent him to jail.

Explain Van Valen's theory that HeLa cells are "no longer human." Was his theory accepted by the scientific community?

Hela cells are evolving separately form humans, and having a separate evolution is really what a species is all about. Hela cell species should be called Hepatocyte galleria.

What do Gold's comments about his decision to publish private information without consulting the Lacks family reveal about his attitude toward them?

He argued that they were not his focus, He just wanted to make some interesting story about scientists. He was cruel and just wanted to take advance of anyone

How did Rogers discover Henrietta's real name?

He founded because of Walter Nelson Rees who was behind those cells.

Explain why Gold's journalism could be considered irresponsible and/or unethical.

He made public personal and prove information about Henrietta without any kind of consent.

Why did Zakariyya decide to participate in research studies at Johns Hopkins? What is ironic about his participation in these studies?

He realized that was a way to get money. The irony is that none of the doctors knew that he was Henrietta son.

What motivated Michael Rogers to find the Lacks family?

He was motivated because he wants to write an article or perfect mix or science and human interest.

What facts about George Gey's life support the assertion that he never personally profited from the development of HeLa?

He was sued and lost everything by the Lacks,

Summarize John Moore's story.

He worked in Alaska, his doctor lives in LA, he sued his doctor because they wanted to sell his cells, he has leukemia.

Do you agree with the court's ruling? Explain your answer.

I mostly agree with the court's ruling because, technically, Golde did have consent from Moore. The first consent form that Moore had signed specifically said that he voluntarily agreed to grant the University any rights he had "in any cell line...which might be developed from the blood...obtained from me.

Who do you think makes the more persuasive argument, Van Valen or Stevenson?

I think Stevenson is more persuasive. because like what scientists say that do DNA fingerprinting on it , her DNA would match the DNA in HeLa cells. so as we could see, it still a human cell.

From a legal standpoint, how is the fact that the doctors failed to obtain consent prior to taking blood from the Lacks family in 1973 different from their initial failure to obtain consent from Henrietta in 1951?

In 1973 was a law get the informed concent, differnt than in 1951 was not.

What information about the Lackses was published by McKusick and Hsu? Why is the publication of this information troubling from an ethical and legal standpoint?

McKusick and Hsu tested the Lackses' blood to determine what genetic markers they had as well as publishing their genetic information and the genetic information of Henrietta, along with a picture of her. This picture, according to the Lacks family, was never given with consent.

Did researchers explain why they wanted DNA samples to the Lacks family? Did the family give informed consent for the research done on those samples?

No they did not explained and they did no got informed concent.

Explain the theories that Henrietta's family have about why her cells are so powerful.

Something live could have gotten her. It was probably the Lord

What was the Supreme Court of California's decision regarding the Moore lawsuit? Summarize the reasoning behind the decision.

The Supreme Court of California ruled in opposition to Moore.

The title of this chapter contains an allusion to the classic horror movie Frankenstein. What does this allusion suggest about the tension between scientific discovery, and public perception and fear of such discoveries?

The allusion of Frankenstein suggests fear of the unknown (in this case science) is still exposed as a threat to the people: especially for African Americans, who were victims of the Night Doctors and the syphilis studies at Tuskegee. All the terrifying stories she had heard about Hopkin's and the Tuskegee studies were suddenly true, and supposedly happening to her family. To the public, it was obviously not perceived well due to the recurring statements that scientists were trying to play god and creating monsters. Especially to the Lacks family, hearing the news that Henrietta was "alive," most assumed that scientists had done something to Henrietta - either in her autopsy or they had dug her up. This would also tie in to the a patient's consent to scientific discovery as many wondered whether Henrietta would have given her cells voluntarily. Overall, people feared scientific discovery - it was corrupt, spooky, and weird (for the time). From Alexis Carrel's "immortal" chicken heart to Gey's HeLa, scientific discoveries still seemed to be the stuff of "racism [and] creepy science fiction"

Describe the contribution that HeLa has made to research on the HIV virus and the AIDS epidemic.

The experiments performed with hela cells allowed scientists to figure out how the virus infected cells. It also helped them learn how to stop it

Describe the lawsuit that set a legal precedent for patenting biological "products" such as cell lines.

The lawsuit that took place was an ownership lawsuit over cells. Moore's cells were taken by his local doctor, David Moore, and used for further research and for a profit. He had developed cancer on his spleen and his doctor had advised him that the complete removal of the spleen was the best option for him, it was finally removed, and he told the doctor to dispose of any tissue. After the surgery Moore went back for follow up exams, and Golde would take more samples of bodily fluid, after a while Moore grew suspicious. Then he was given a consent form, after the first one he grew even more suspicious and then when given the second he decided to give no consent to Golde to use his cells for research. After this event, there was even more trouble in Moore and Golde's relationship. But before Moore was able to get the new consent form, the one that he had disagreed to give Golde consent on, Golde had already filed for a patent on Moore's cells. When Moore discovered this patent he decided to sue Golde, on grounds of theft, as Moore claimed that the cells were rightfully his property

Summarize the pros and cons of giving patients legal ownership of their cells.

The pros of giving patient's legal ownership of their cells would be that they would make/handle their own money, they would probably get most of the profit, and they would have the right to do whatever they wanted to do with their cells. The cons are that most patients would most likely not know who to sell the cells to, and scientists wouldn't be able use the cells to make vaccines since it would be considered theft.

Explain how the sale of HeLa evolved into a business. Describe the extent to which the profits from that business are likely a direct result of the sale of HeLa cells. In what other ways do scientists, corporations, and individuals profit as a result of HeLa?

The sale of HeLa cells grew into a huge business, so unlike what Helen said, big companies such as Invitrogen and BioWhittaker didn't start selling HeLa cells. The business really started with George Gey, the researcher accredited and responsible for the initial culturing of HeLa cells. He started by giving away vials of HeLa cells he developed himself to other researchers in the nation who were interested in it. Eventually, HeLa's popularity grew and more researchers demanded more HeLa cells because conducting researches on HeLa.

Explain how the human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer.

Their immune systems usually prevent the virus from doing serious harm. But in a small number of women, the virus survives for years. Eventually, the virus can lead to the conversion of normal cells on the surface of the cervix into cancerous cells

Describe Rogers's interaction with the Lacks family.

They did know about the cells, they did ask questions because they didn't know why doctors take blood from them and Rogers was friendly with them.

Why are HeLa cells able to live beyond the Hayflick limit?

They have an active version of telomerase during cell division. This prevents the incremental shortening of telomeres which causes aging and eventually death. This circumvents the hay flick limit.

Why did Ted Slavin start Essential Biologicals?

To allow people with valuable blood to profit from the research done

Why did scientists find the Moore lawsuit deeply troubling?

cientists believed that taking patient's cells for research was totally understandable and helped further the medical field. If it was made illegal for doctors to take a patient's cells without their permission, then they were afraid they would miss out from a big science changing revolution which happened in the case of HeLa cells. If patients had the right to their cells, then they could very much decline any doctors from using them which can be risky for scientists. Eventually the Supreme Court ruled against Moore, stating that when tissues are removed from you body, "any claim you might have had to owning them vanishes"

Are scientists able to definitively explain why HeLa grew so powerfully?

t is unclear if they are definitely able to explain how HeLa grew so powerfully; since we are looking at a different time period and that because of their lack of advanced technology, they weren't able to find out of how it grew so powerfully. If this had happened, some time in this period, then scientists would've had a good chance to find out about the cells powerful growth. Maybe if technology was advanced then they would've had an answer, but it remained unclear. Scientists did continue testing HeLa and finding out more viruses, disease, their causes and prevention, but no one really looked to this question.