Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer at age 31 in 1951. Before her death, researchers at Johns Hopkins University took a tissue sample from her cervix. They found that her cells continued to live and thrive outside of her body in a laboratory, something researchers had never witnessed before. This discovery has led to the publication of thousands of research articles and studies on cancer, vaccines, in vitro fertilization, and AIDS. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot in 2010 brought the Henrietta Lacks story to the public’s attention.
The moral dilemma with all of this is that Henrietta Lacks never consented to having her cells taken. Although the cells, named the HeLa cells, have been used in studies all over the world, the Lacks family was not aware of this until 1973. After years of attempting to receive some sort of compensation or recognition, an agreement with the family has been made. The family’s concerns over public genome information were addressed in that only researchers would have access to the full genome. Two representatives from the Lacks family will help review applications for access to HeLa cells. Although the family will not receive any compensation, they can take pride in the fact that Henrietta Lacks allowed so many scientific and medical advancements. They too have helped, in that they have shown the great importance of ethics and informed consent in scientific and medical research.
NIH finally makes good with Henrietta Lacks’ family–and it’s about time, ethicist says
A Family Consents to a Medical Gift, 62 Years Later
Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Impact on Research Now Extends to Patient Consent
