The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Q/A- prologue- ch 17

Who was Alexis Carrel? Why did he win the Nobel Prize?

Alexis Carrel was a French surgeon at the Rockefeller Institute. He won a Nobel Prize for his blood-vessel suturing technique and contribution to organ transplantation and not for his immortal chicken heart even though it caused it to be widely known.

What disease does Sonny, Deborah, and Joe contract?

All three of them contracted tuberculosis.

Review the notes on Henrietta's medical history found on page 16. Based on the objective details in her medical chart, what can you infer about Henrietta's life and personality.

Based on the details of Henrietta's medical history we can infer that because of Henrietta being born in a low income family and not suppressing farther than secondary education she had to grow up quickly and mature. We can also see that Henrietta only wants to help others instead of worrying about herself as she declines many appointments to help her.

Why did they have Henrietta's wrists and ankles strapped down?

Because she would go frantic and almost fall out of the bed and it was most likely caused by seizures and the pain of the tumors growing at a rapid rate.

Why did Henrietta's doctors need to ask for her family's permission to remove tissue samples after her death? How did Day initially respond to their requests?

Because the law made it clear that it was illegal to not ask permission to do an autopsy on a dead body, but it was legal to do it without permission on one that is alive. Day initially responded by telling them "no'' straight up.

What details suggest that Carrel's claims about the immortal cell line were not scientifically sound?

Carrel's claim was based on an experimental lie as Carrel's chicken heart wasn't surviving on its own because he was feeding it an embryo juice made by grounding up chicken tissue.

What was Chester Southam concerned that HeLa might do?

Chester Southam, a virologist, was worried that contact with HeLa cells might infect researchers with cancer while working with HeLa. To test this idea, he decided to inject cancer patients' arms with HeLa cells while claiming to be conducting an immune system test.

Where does Cliff take Rebecca?

Cliff takes Rebecca to Henrietta's burial place and the old "home-house" where Henrietta had grown up and started her family with Day at the age of 14.

Where does Cootie think Henrietta's cancer came from?

Cootie tells Skloot that he believes and some of her family believes that Henrietta's sickness was brought on by a source of Voodoo, or could be that the doctors at Hopkins had killed her and put it in her.

Cootie seems to know and understand a little bit about HeLa cells, but he believes that Henrietta's spirit is still present in her cells. What does Cootie think about the reason that HeLa cells were used to develop a polio vaccine?

Cootie thinks that Henerietta used her cells to help get rid of polio for other people.

What illness did Cootie have as a child?

Cootie was stricken with polio and was kind of paralyzed because of it.

How was Day related to Henrietta?

Day was related to Henrietta as they were both first cousins and then got married.

How did doctors justify using patients in public hospital wards as medical research subjects without obtaining their consent or offering the financial compensation? Do you agree or disagree with their reasoning? Why or why not?

Doctors justified their reasoning to use patients as research subjects by stating that because public hospitals were treating patients for free then it would only be fair to test on them. I disagree with their reasoning because so much could go wrong and then the hospital would be the one to blame once again. An example would be the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee

Summarize Dr. TeLinde's position in the debate over the treatment of cervical cancer.

Dr. Telinde disagreed that carcinoma in situ should be left untreated as he believed that noninvasive carcinoma was just the beginning stage of invasive carcinoma if left untreated.

What was different about Henrietta's second child, Elsie?

Elsie was disabled as she had epilepsy, mental retardation and neurosyphilis

What was Elsie's early life like?

Elsie's early life was simple as she rarely talked and was sick most of the time, and was epileptic.

Who took Henrietta to see Elsie for the last time?

Emmett had a closer connection to Henrietta and told her to visit Elsie for the last time. Emmett drove Henrietta to Crownsville so she could see Elsie.This was said to be the last time anyone would ever visit Elsie as she died when she was 15; 3 years after her moms death in 1955.

What did Gey hope to accomplish with HeLa cells?

Gey hoped to accomplish a way to stop cancer and find a cure to it.

Where did Southam find test subjects for his second study?

He found his test subjects in Ohio Prison as they usually always volunteered.

What did Howard Jones find "interesting" about Henrietta's medical history? What does this finding suggest about Henrietta's cancer?

He found that Henrietta had given birth at the hospital and even had a 6 weeks prior checkup and in 3 months she had a full fledged tumor. This finding can suggest that the tumor had grown at a terrifying rate.

In what ways, if any, did Gey personally profit from the development of HeLa?

He never really told anybody that he did it even though he did gain fame for it and he just moved on from it.

How did TeLinde hope to prove that his hypothesis about cervical cancer was correct?

He wanted to prove that his hypothesis was correct by growing living samples of cervical tissue and both types of cancerous tissue to see if carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma looked similar to prove the others wrong.

What was George Gey's position at Johns Hopkins?

He was the head of tissue culture at John Hopkins.

What did HeLa allow scientists to do for the first time?

HeLa allowed scientists to be able to perform experiments that would have been impossible with a living human.

What 5 medical advances are Henrietta's cells responsible for?

Help develop drugs for treating diseases such as herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, & parkinson's disease.

What objective details suggest that Henrietta was in extreme pain at this point in her illness?

Henrietta could barely walk from the house to the car and you could see it in her eyes. Another key factor would be on how even though Henrietta's nature is to not tell others of her pain they could tell because of the illness.

Why do you think Henrietta initially chose not to tell people about her cancer diagnosis? What does this decision suggest about Henrietta's personality?

Henrietta initially chose not to tell people about her cancer because she didn't want them to worry about her. This shows that she was stubborn and kept to herself most of the time.

Once HeLa started growing, was Henrietta informed that her cells were being used in Gey's research?

Henrietta was not informed that her cells were being used in Gey's research and she went about her normal life without knowing about it till her death in 1951.

After her diagnosis and treatment, how did Henrietta behave? What can you infer about her personality based on this behavior?

Henrietta was seen as being completely fine and nobody remembered her complaining about any side effects. From this we can infer that Henrietta is a type of person that kept from everybody and wanted nobody to worry about her well being.

Why didn't Henrietta's family know that her cells were still alive?

Henrietta's family didn't know her cells were still alive because her real name was not never used in any articles about HeLa cells and when the Minneapolis star told everyone her real name it wasn't even correct.

What was Henrietta's final request? What does this tell you about her?

Henrietta's final request was for Day to take care of the children, especially Deborah and this goes to show that even at a time she was going to die all she cared about was her children and the well being of others. This tells me that she was proud of them because she made them who they are and wishes that they continue doing so.

Why did doctors stop giving Henrietta blood transfusions?

Henrietta's tumor had spread all over her body, and she greatly needed constant blood transfusions since her kidneys had failed because of the spread. But, one of the doctors, knowing how greatly Henrietta needed the transfusions, wrote a note to stop all transfusions writing "until her deficit with blood bank was made up" because of how much blood she was getting.

What did Henrietta's friends and family do when they found out that she needed blood? Why do you think they were willing to sacrifice to help her?

Her friends and family stopped working and piled into a truck and went to Hopkins to donate eight pints of blood to her. Henrietta was so nice to everyone and was the mother,sister, cousin, love, friend they never had as she did so much for them even when she had her own problems.

Do you think Henrietta would have given explicit consent to have a tissue sample used in medical research if she had been asked? Do you think she would have understood what was being asked of her? EXPLAIN your answer.

I believe that Henrietta would not have consented to have a tissue sample used in medical research if she would have been asked. I think she would have understood what she was being asked for if the doctors were explicit with their details instead of being vague.

Analyze the consent statement that Henrietta signed on page 31. Based on this statement, do you believe TeLinde and Gey had the right to obtain a sample from her cervix to use in their research?

I do not believe that Telinde and Gey had the right to obtain a sample from Henrietta's cervix because many women at the time, especially colored women, were illiterate so she would not have understood anything on the paper making her oblivious to what they were going to do.

If Gey did speak to Henrietta just before she died, do you think she would have understood what immortal cells were? EXPLAIN your answer.

I don't think she would've understood because she was uneducated. She might not understand what immortal cells were when a doctor such as Gey would use more sophisticated language without realizing who he was in front of.

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?

In medical terms Elsie's condition was called epilepsy, mental retardation and neurosyphilis but Henrietta;s friends and family called Elsie simple and touched. The connotations of the two sets of terms show how Henrietta's family overall were uneducated.

Explain how a neutralization test is used to determine a vaccine's efficacy.

It is used by mixing blood serum from a newly vaccinated child with a live virus and cells in culture.If the method worked, the child's blood would block the virus and protect the cells and if it didn't work, the virus would infect the cell intentionally causing damage which the doctors microscopically examined the damage.

Why is standardization important in scientific research?

It keeps the research safe, accurate, the same, and repeatable to the other scientists to make sure different methods were not used.

What is mitosis? What beneficial biological processes involve mitosis?

Mitosis is the process of cell division and the beneficial biological processes that involve mitosis are embryos being able to grow into babies and our bodies being able to create new cells for healing wounds and replenishing the blood that we lost.

How are different types of cancer categorized?

One is invasive carcinoma and the other is noninvasive carcinomas. The difference is that the invasive carcinoma has already penetrated the surface while the noninvasive hasn't. Many say that the noninvasive is just the beginning stage.

Explain who Roland Patillo is. How is he connected to both Henrietta and George Gey?

Roland Patillo was a professor of gynecology at Morehouse and was connected to George Gey as he was one of Gey's only African-American students. And was connected to Henrietta as he knows the family and threw a symposium in her honor.

Why did scientists want to be able to clone cells for research purposes?

Scientists wanted to be able to clone cells for research so that they could grasp onto the unique traits of HeLa because cells act in different ways even though they all come from the same sample.

How long did Henrietta wait between telling her girlfriends that "something didn't feel right" and going to the doctor?

She waited about a year between telling her girlfriends that "something didn't feel right" and going to the doctor.

How does Skloot proceed with her research when it becomes clear that Sonny Lacks is not going to meet with her?

Skloot drove to Baltimore to meet Sonny when he declined Skloot grabbed the Baltimore phone book and opened it to the L, and figured to call every Lacks in the book asking if they knew anything about Henrietta when it became clear that Sony wasn't going to meet with her.

Explain how TeLinde and Gey's relationship led to Gey obtaining a tissue sample from Henrietta's tumor.

Telinde and Gey both wanted something and were trying to achieve a study so when Gey's obsession on making immortal cells happened to reach Telinde's need to prove doctors wrong by testing different cancer samples by growing them they met and gave each other an exchange.

What does Rebecca learn about the Lacks heritage?

That it is both black and white and they owned a plantation and the family who took hold of the plantation who were the Pleasents never went through with the antislavery tradition that their family of Quakers followed.

Explain how the development of the Pap Smear improved the survival rate of women diagnosed with cervical cancer.

The Pap Smear could allow doctors to easily detect precancerous cells and perform a hysterectomy so that cervical cancer could be preventable entirely.

The author uses several similes to describe cells. What simile does she use to describe the way the cell looks? What simile does she use to explain the functions of the different parts of the cell? What do these similes suggest about biology?

The author uses an egg to describe the way a cell looks with the cytoplasm being the white that is full of water and protein and the nucleus being the yolk that holds all genetic information that makes a person them. She uses the noise of a New York city street to compare to the cytoplasm because of all the molecules roaming and working. These similes suggest that everything in biology has a part to play to make it work like a choreographed dance.

What happened to the HeLa cells that Mary cultured?

The cells ended up surviving and grew at an amazing rate.

What happens when there is a mistake in mitosis?

The cells start growing at a dangerous rate which are called cancerous cells which in return can give a person cancer.

Why did the fact that HeLa cells are malignant make them particularly useful in the study of viruses?

The fact that HeLa cells grew faster than normal cells produced results faster and was known as a workhorse.

Where did the name "HeLa" come from?

The first two letters of Henrietta's first and last name.

How did the media react to Carrel's announcement that he had grown immortal chicken hearts cells?

The media didn't really care about it even though it was all pretty groundbreaking. The media and general public had been through the "immortal cell" thing before, and it had turned out to be a scam and happened when French surgeon Alexis Carrel claimed to have grown an immortal chicken heart.

In your own words, explain the paradox "Benevolent deception"?

The paradox"Benevolent Deception" was when a patient could not question a doctor's judgment because they lacked the knowledge to do so and it was the doctor helping them survive.

Describe the progression of Henrietta's cancer in the eight months between her diagnosis and her death.

The progression was that her body was almost entirely taken over by tumors as they had grown on her diaphragm, bladder and lungs and blocked her intestines making her body swell. She had to get blood transfusions because her kidneys could not filter the toxins from her blood from her cancer being so invasive.

What was the result of Southam's first research experiment? Based on these results, did the hypothesis appear to be correct?

The result of Southam's first research study was that the patients developed tumors, but the tumors banished within their own time except for four patients that the tumors grew back on and he took some patients' tumors out. His hypothesis wasn't really accurate as he was testing on people who already had cancer so we can't really decide if it was HeLa or just their cancer in general.

Describe the role Microbiological Associates played in the development of the field of cell culture, and the industry of selling HeLa cells and other human biological materials.

The role it played was that it created the first industrial, for-profit cell distribution center and this so-called "Cell Factory" allowed scientists to buy large amounts of HeLa cells from any part of the world no matter what. It was convenient as well because scientists could pay less then $50 to have cells shipped or flown overnight even though the price has gone up now and they held contracts with major airlines to fly out vials of cells. Overtime, this Factory turned into a multibillion-dollar industry.

Explain how Gey's roller-tube culturing technique works.

The roller tube culturing technique worked by slowly turning a large cylindrical wooden roller drum, to simulate the blood and fluids in the body

What happened when the family started to bury Henrietta's body?

The sky turned black and started raining so hard and fast that babies were screaming, their metal roof from the barn tore apart and flew like a bird, tobacco fields were on fire, trees were ripped and one of the Lack's cousins even died as he was thrown out of the living room to his garden.

What unusual characteristics of HeLa cells made them ideal for use in the polio vaccine trials?

The unusual characteristics of HeLa cells made them ideal for use in the polio vaccine trials as they we susceptible to the virus than any cultured cells had ever been and they would keep on growing until they ran out of culture medium and didn't need to be scooped and put in another tube over and over again.

Summarize the various factual errors that appeared in the stories about HeLa.

The various factual errors that was said about HeLa was that they put Henrietta's name down as Helen Lane even though her real name was Henrietta Lacks, they even said that her cells were taken after her death but they were actually taken before that.

After her initial round of treatment, what did Henrietta's doctors assume about the effectiveness of the radium therapy?

They assumed that there was no evidence of recurrence or major issue and told her to come back the next month when it came to the effectiveness of the radium therapy.

Why did the Tuskegee Institute become involved in the mass production of HeLa cells? Describe the depth of the institute's involvement.

They became involved because the NFIP needed a place to mass produce HeLa and it would provide thousands of dollars in funding, many jobs, & training opportunities for young black scientists.

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?

They failed to tell her that she would be infertile and she reacted by being very upset as she told them that she knew she would have not gone through with the treatment.

When did the doctors realize that Henrietta had been correct about the growth of her cancer?

They realized three days later, when Henrietta returned complaining about her pain again, and a doctor pressed on her pelvic wall, and noticed a hard lump nearly blocking her urethra.

What do the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the Mississippi Appendectomies suggest about the history of African Americans and medicine?

They suggest the idea that because African Americans were poor and uneducated they could be tested on. Also said to be a notoriously syphilis soaked race.

Describe the experiment that Southam developed to test his hypothesis about HeLa.

To test this idea, he decided to inject cancer patients' arms with HeLa cells while claiming to be conducting an immune system test.

Who took the children in and helped them most?

While Ethel and Dalen took the children they were abusive but the ones who helped them most was Bobbette and Lawrence (brother).

Why was the development of methods of freezing cells an important scientific breakthrough?

made it possible to send cells around the world using the already-standardized method of freezing and made sure HeLa does not grow crazy and use up all the culture and scientists do not have to worry about keeping them sterile and fed. Also allowed scientists to stop moments of HeLa growth and see what is happening.

According to Defler, how important was the discovery of HeLa cells?

According to Defler the discovery of HeLa cells was one of the most important thing to have happened in medicine in the last 100 years

Explain what an immortal cell line is.

An immortal cell line is a continuously dividing line of cells that descended from one primary sample; cells that could constantly replenish themselves and never die.

What made Day change his mind and allow the autopsy?

Day changed his mind when the doctors told him that doing an autopsy on Henrietta will help his children later in the future and his cousin told him it was for a good cause and it caused Day to sign the papers.

Why did David Lacks take Henrietta to the public wards at John Hopkins instead of a closer hospital?

He took Henrietta to the public wards at John Hopkins because it was the only place that admitted black people.

Who profited monetarily from the sale of HeLa cells and other human biological materials?

Microbiological Associates, Samuel Reader and Monroe Vincent profited monetarily from the sale of the HeLa cells and other human biological materials.

What does Skloot realize after watching the BBC documentary about HeLa?

Skloot was able to realize that Henrietta had cousins living in a place called Clover once she was in the BBC documentary.

Paraphrase the information on page 50 describing the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study started in the 30s, when the U.S. Public Heath Service researchers at the Tuskegee Institute wanted to study how syphilis killed a person. They decided to recruit hundreds of African American men, then watched them die slowly, even after they knew that penicillin could save them. It was also tested on african men because they were thought as a whole including the women to be stricken with syphilis.

Explain the contribution that HeLa made to the emerging field of genetics.

The contribution that HeLa made to the field of genetics was added to the chromosome research, and was able to tell how many chromosomes there should be and could be used to see if someone had an extra/miss one to detect abnormalities.

What did Henrietta's first doctor assume the source of the lump on Henrietta's cervix was? What stereotype or bias might this assumption be based upon?

The doctor first assumed that the source of the lump was syphilis. The stereotype or bias that was assumed was based upon the fact that Heneritta's husband had affairs.

How did her doctors react to Henrietta's intuitive conviction that the cancer was spreading inside her?

The doctors decided to dismiss her claims that the cancer had spread even though Henrietta was going through obvious pain.

What newspaper publicly identified Henrietta Lacks as the HeLa cell donor?

The infamous Minneapolis star was the one that publicly identified Henrietta Lacks as the cell donor.

Who were the test subjects in Southam's first study? Were they informed about the research and its risks?

The test subjects were a bunch of cancer patients who were neither informed about this experiment nor the risks of it.