The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Q/A- ch 18 -

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

Federal laws have been introduced which make it a crime to publish medical records without consent.

Why did scientists find the Moore lawsuit deeply troubling?

Scientists found the Moore lawsuit to be deeply troubling because they thought that patients would stop giving their tissue to scientists for research purposes in the hope for profits from the tissue. Also believing that the progress of science would stop if patients did not give consent anymore.

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

She chose not to request a copy of her mother's medical records because she was scared of what she might see and how it might affect her after understanding it.

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

She cried constantly, did not sleep, and started to feel as crazed with anger just like her brothers had been at Johns Hopkins.

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

She did research because she wanted to educate herself on what they really were but it led to her having negative effects because she read disturbing articles about her mother's cell, which scared her.

What did Deborah hope to happen as a result of the BBC documentary?

She hoped that the world would learn the truth and that she would be able to move on from it as a result of the BBC documentary.

What did Stanley Gartler discover about eighteen of the most commonly used cell cultures?

Stanley discovered that they all contained a rare genetic marker known as G6PD-A and was found almost exclusively in black Americans.

Why did scientists want to fuse human and animal cells?

They wanted to do this because they wanted to see how genes worked and what they do.

How did the black community feel about Johns Hopkins?

They were scared of John Hopkins because of the allegation which most were true of them researching on black people without consent.

What motivated Micheal Rogers to find the Lacks family?

What motivated Michael Rogers was that he thought it would make the perfect story for The Rolling Stone and that it was the perfect mix of science and human interest.

Who were "night doctors"?

"Night doctors" are white doctors who crept around at night, kidnapping black people to test/research on them as told by oral traditions.

What is "spontaneous transformation"? What did Gartler suggest about spontaneous transformation?

"Spontaneous Transformation" is when a non cancerous cell becomes cancerous but Gartler suggested that it was not a thing.

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

According to Stevenson, scientists developed that HeLa cells were no longer human because they disliked the association of the cells with a person who actually lived.

After finding out that his cancer was terminal, what reason did Gey give for his decision to offer himself as a research subject?

After finding out that his cancer was terminal, Gey decided that he was going to die anyway from the cancer, and that he wanted to help advance science and research studies in the process of it all.

Give an example of indirect characterization that reveals that the Lacks family distrusts doctors.

An example would be on page 163 where it says, "...his doctor said his toes needed amputating, but Day refused. He said he didn't want doctors cutting on him like they did Henrietta."

How did Bobbette find out about HeLa?

Bobbette found out about HeLa from the brother in law of her friend Gardenia as they were talking about their jobs, life, and history of where they were from and what they do typically.

What did Cofield do when he realized the Lacks family had blocked his access to their family records? What were the results of his actions?

Cofield started a suit against the Lackes after figuring out that he had been blocked from the family records and was furious.

How did Deborah discover the truth about Cofield?

Deborah discovered the truth after Hopkins warned her about him.

Why did Deborah agree to help Speed and Wyche with their museum project?

Deborah agreed to help because they said they would help her find information about her mother.

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

Deborah found out about her mother's painful death when Michael Gold had gained access to Henriettas records and published them in a book written by him. Deborah decided to read the book with the gorey details of her mother's death and autopsy.

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

Deborah's fears and concerns after finding out about her mother's cells were that the same thing that happened to her mother happened to her as well.

Explain Deborah's fears about her sister, Elsie.

Debrah's fears about her sister was that her sister was mistreated in the place where they left her.

Explain what happens during somatic cell division.

During somatic cell division, the cell is infected with certain viruses and clumps together creating a fusion and then the genetic material of the two cells combined.

What did Howard Jones realize when he reviewed Henrietta's medical records?

Even if Henrietta got the right treatment she would've died but, Howard Jones realized that Henrietta's tumor was not from an invasive epidermoid carcinoma, but an invasive and aggressive adenocarcinoma on her cervix when he reviewed her medical records.

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

Gold's comment of his decision was that he "just thought they might make some interesting color for the scientific story" revealing that he was not thinking about the well being of the patient or the family and only cared about the content of the book he was writing to give him some fame.

Summarize the ways that HeLa was used in the space program.

HeLa was sent to space with astronauts to see the nutritional needs of cells in space, and how cancerous/noncancerous cells responded in zero gravity.

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

Gold's journalism could be considered unethical and irresponsible because he did not consider the patient's private information and harm it could cause to the patients family. It is also a violation as him obtaining this private information from the hospital was also a violation of the Hippocratic Oath which protected the confidentiality of a patient's.

Explain how human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer.

HPV causes cancer as it inserts its DNA into the DNA of the host cell, and produces proteins that normally lead to cancer in the cell.

What crime did Joe commit?

He committed second degree murder

How did Rogers discover Henrietta's real name?

He found it out by Walter Nelson-Rees who released who was behind HeLa.

What did Johns Hopkins want his donated money to be used for?

He wanted to be used to help those who otherwise couldn't otherwise get medical care, without regarding who they were.

How was Gartler able to link the contamination problem to HeLa?

He was able to link the contamination problem to HeLa by knowing that some cells came from whites and seeing that they had the genetic marker he concluded that HeLa was used when the cells were cultured

What type of cancer was George Gey diagnosed with?

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Who is Keenan Kester Cofield? How did he get involved with the Lacks family?

He was the cousin of Debroah's husband's former stepdaughter and was a robber who tried to trick the Lacks family by saying he was a lawyer and got involved with the Lacks family as Cofield wanted to sue and get money from the Lack family.

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

HeLa cells were able to live beyond the Hayflick limit because they contained an enzyme called telomerase, that helped the cell regenerated constantly. Meaning that Hela could never die because it just kept going.

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

Henrietta had been dead for about 25 years when they found out that Henrietta's cells were still alive. Exactly 22 years

Explain how Henrietta's real name became public knowledge.

Henrietta's real name became public knowledge when J. Douglas, from Brunel University, had announced that he received a letter that left no doubt that HeLa cells were named after Henrietta Lacks.

What specific request did Gey make prior to going into surgery? Why didn't his surgeons honor his request?

His wish was that the doctors would operate on him to remove his tumor and take a sample of the tissue, so that he could also become a founder of an immortal cell line and help researchers, but the surgeons found that the cancer was inoperable and didn't want to kill Gey by cutting into the cancer.

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

I think Stevenson makes the more persuasive argument because he makes a logical argument to Valen's original idea about the species of the HeLa cells.

How did prison change Joe?

It changed Joe by allowing him to focus his energy on himself and found the Islamic religion and become more religious (changed his name as well)

What unique abilities did HeLa have that allowed it to contaminate cultures without researchers being aware that contamination had occurred?

It could stick on anything from dust particles, lab coats, pipettes, and much more.

What was the lawyer's main argument in Joe's defense?

Joe felt that it was more necessary to protect himself than the average individual.

Why did Johns Hopkins start a medical school and hospital in a poor black neighborhood? What purpose was the school/hospital intended to serve?

Johns Hopkins started a medical school and hospital in a poor black neighborhood because they wanted to treat black people who could not afford medical care and attention so they could also get the help they needed.

Which four Lacks family members finally agreed to meet with Rebecca?

Lawrence, Sonny, Deborah, and Lawrence finally agreed to meet with Rebecca.

Do you agree that Henrietta should have been correctly identified in order to "give her the fame she so richly deserves," or do you think her anonymity should have been protected? EXPLAIN your answer.

No I do not agree with the fact that Henrietta should have been correctly identified in order to give her the fame she so richly deserves and think that her anonymity should have been protected because it is a part of the doctors job and hospital to not leak information about a patient even if they are significant because it is unethical of them of displaying such fragile information that can cause the safety of a patient and their family to go to harm. Now, even though Henrietta played a huge part in the medical and science industry and the development of it, she should have been protected from the media and it is true because you can see how Skloot tried to dig out information about Henrietta from her family even if they didn't want to

Did Gey benefit or profit in any way from his participation in the research studies?

No, Gey neither benefited nor profited from his participation in the research studies.

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

No, they did not receive an explanation to why they wanted the DNA sampled from the Lacks family or did they receive an informed consent for the research done on those samples.

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

No, they were not able to definitively explain why HeLa grew so rapidly.

What motivated Patillo to organize the HeLa Cancer Control Symposium?

Patillo was motivated to organize the HeLa Cancer Control Symposium because he felt connected to her and wanted to honor her.

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

Researchers wanted DNA samples from Henrietta's family because they wanted to figure out which cells belonged to HeLa and which cells belonged to others because of contamination between the cultures.

Why would HeLa contamination be a problem for researchers?

Researchers would think that they were testing on other cells when it is actually HeLa and it would cause misleading results when conducting a research/experiment.

Why did Ted Slavin start Essential Biologicals?

Slavin started Essential Biologicals with "similarly endowed people" to further study and help the scientific development of vaccines and other aids.

Explain the Hayflick limit.

The Hayflick limit is essentially the idea that cells can only divide a certain amount of times before the telomeres get so short that they can't divide. It was known as a act of time

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

The Lacks believed their blood was being taken to be tested for cancer.

What is the Lacks family's biggest complaint about the way they have been treated by Johns Hopkins and Gey?

The Lacks family's biggest complaint about the way they have been treated by Johns Hopkins and Gey was that they were not told about them taking Henrietta's cells even though they said that she donated the cells, the Lacks knew that they took them from her.

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

The Supreme Court of California decision regarding the Moore lawsuit was that they ruled against Moore because "when tissues are removed from your body, with or without your consent, any claim you might have had to owning them vanishes."

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

The Supreme Court of California's decision regarding the Moore lawsuit was that the patients could not have any rights to their tissues after it was out of their bodies. Their reasoning was that when it is removed from your body and left at the doctor's, then you are leaving behind your waste, meaning that you are unclaiming it.

Explain the connection that Sonny makes between his mother's personality and the ways he believes HeLa cells have been used.

The connection that Sonny makes is how Henrietta was always taking care of everybody around her just like HeLa was but on a world wide scale.

Describe the contribution HeLa made towards research on the HIV virus and AIDS epidemic.

The contribution that HeLa made towards the research on the HIV virus and the AIDS epidemic was that it allowed them to determine what was needed for HIV to infect.

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

The fact that Gey never personally profited from the development of HeLa was that he turned down a request to make the first commercial cell-culture lab, he didn't patent his invention, and he made a comfortable salary. Suggesting that Gey wasn't that interested in making money off of his scientific developments, meaning HeLa too.

Why is the fact that the Lacks family cannot get health insurance an irony?

The fact that health insurance is an example of irony because while Henrietta's cell are being sold around the world for profit and is a multi billion dollar industry and the Lacks family can't even afford Health insurance

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

The information that was published by McKusick and Hsu was the genetic mapping of Henrietta Lacks along with her husband and two of her children. Because of this the publication of this information is troubling from an ethical and legal standpoint because DNA is considered personal medical info and the publication of this could go against the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

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

The lawsuit that set a legal precedent for patenting biological "products" was one being the case with cell lines and Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty because she created a bacterium that was genetically engineered to consume oil,that would help with cleaning up oil spills and argued that she should be able to patent it because she invented it.

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

The paragraph in Rogers's article said that the Lacks family found it extremely upsetting and said that vials of HeLa cells were being sold by the government as well as commercial outfits, which meant that anyone could buy HeLa cells to grow in culture. The conclusion that the Lackses drew from this was that Gey and Hopkins had stolen Henrietta's cells and were making millions off them.

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 their own money, get most of the profit, and have the right to do whatever they wanted to do with their cells. On the other hand the cons are that most patients would not know who to sell the cells to, and scientists wouldn't be able to use the cells to make vaccines as it would be stealing. There might also be a decline in the number of people willing to donate their cells to researchers if legal ownership were allowed for patients.

What was the purpose of President Nixon's National Cancer Act?

The purpose was to put in $1.5 billion for cancer research for the following three years.

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, researchers and corporations profit as a result of HeLa.

The sale of HeLa evolved into a business when Gey first started to give vials of HeLa to colleagues for free. Eventually, growing popular and demands soaring, HeLa was being sold from everywhere. There is no way to find the amount of personal profits that were made from the cells because it was such a wide and huge thing.

What scientific discoveries were made possible as a result of fused hybrid cells?

The scientific discoveries that were made possible was; Genetic, How to map genes, and made it possible for DNA from two unrelated individuals and species to survive together inside cells without one rejecting the other in other ways.

Why did a committee of scientists form the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC)?

The scientists wanted to preserve the purity of the cells by keeping them without contamination.

What do the Lackes believe Johns Hopkins did to black people?

They believed that John Hopkins kidnapped black people and experimented on them.

How did the public respond to the idea of cell hybrids? In what specific ways did the media influence the public's perception of cell hybrids?

They did not like the idea of the cell hybrids and went into panic mode on what the world is becoming. The media took advantage and started writing articles about these man-animal hybrids and even comic strips started displaying the hybrids doing daily human activities.

How did the scientific community respond to Gartler's theory about HeLa contamination?

They did not listen to him and ignored his claims.

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 to research?

They necessitated establishing the legal requirement of informed consent because patients could deal with injuries both physically and physiologically and were exposed to it.

Sonny and Lawrence repeat the refrain "That's a miracle," when discussing the scientific advances made possible by their mothers cells. What does this refrain suggest about their worldview and values?

This suggests that Sonny and Lawrence's worldview and values are that they perceive the situation with their mother's cells as an extraordinary accomplishment or miracle per say. They believe that HeLa cells have made the things people would say in their dreams true.

What disturbing discovery did scientists make about the way HeLa responded in orbit?

Unlike normal cells HeLa became more powerful and divided faster.

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

Van Valen's theory that HeLa cells are "no longer human" was that the HeLa cells were evolving into a different species apart from human. His theory was not accepted by the scientific community.

What was ironic about the creation of Speed and Wyche's Henrietta Lacks Foundation?

What was ironic about the creation of Speed and Wyche's Henrietta Lacks Foundation was that the white people were able to profit from black people it was like a cover up good but was just for profit.

Describe the attempts Wyche made to get recognition for Henrietta and her family.

Wyche made activities were some looked like Henrietta, she gave T-shirts and pens with Henrietta's name and opened the Henrietta Lacks Foundation account in attempts to get recognition for Henrietta and her family

Think about the response Johns Hopkins gave to Wyche's letter. Do you think that was an appropriate response? What rhetorical strategies did they use to counter Wyche's appeal?

Wyche wrote a letter to John Hopkins president, William Brody, in an attempt to get Henrietta recognition from John Hopkins. But I think Brody's official response was not appropriate because it did not fully answer Wyche's letter with a well-supported response.

Do Gey's attitude and actions after his own diagnosis of terminal cancer change your opinion of him? EXPLAIN your answer.

Yes it changed my answer because I believed from the beginning that he was a good man with good intentions but the wrong execution while in the process. Also his willingness to allow researchers to research him even if it meant he would die in the process shows his determination to make the medical industry a safe haven and save many people which he achieved.

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

Zakariyya decided to participate in the research studies at Johns Hopkins because they offered money, and sometimes, a place to sleep. This is ironic because with his participation in these studies he could end up like his mother's cells has they had been stolen and used in research without her consent, and he was putting himself in a place where it could happen to him even though he chose to go into the study.