Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Chapters 28 - 31: February 21
While Henrietta's family didn't receive monetary compensation for their mother's cells, do you think there is any evidence from the reading (either in these chapters or earlier) that the family, Deborah in particular, received any other sorts of benefit from the story of her mother's cells coming out? Explain. (In other words, how did the fact that Rebecca Skloot chose to write this book impact the family?)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think the most important thing Rebecca Skloot did for the lacks family was to start the Henrietta Lacks foundation. "The Foundation has already awarded 36 grants to multiple qualifying members of Henrietta Lacks’s immediate family, and has considered many other applicants as well," (henriettalacksfoundation.org). I think this was probably the best thing she could have done, because it would have been hard for her to force pharmaceutical companies to pay the Lacks' family back. This instead is a way for those who have benefited financially to voluntarily give back.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe that although the family had not received any monetary compensation for Henrietta’s cells from the hospital or other scientists, they did however receive other benefits by Skloot writing the story of Henrietta. After the hospital took Henrietta’s cells the family was never given any information about what was done with the cells and how they impacted scientific research that was being done at the time and how they are continued to be used today. By Skloot writing Henrietta’s story her family and the rest of the world is able to see the story if Henrietta and her family is able to know what was done with their mother’s cells. Before the arrival of Skloot into their lives they did not know very much about the fact that Henrietta’s cells were taken, what a cell even is, and how her cells have helped so many people.
ReplyDeleteEven though Henrietta Lacks' family did not gain any wealth or compensation of money for her cells, they were able to gain another type of compensation. Rebecca Skloot offered this family the opportunity to become recognized for Henrietta's cells acheivements. Because of this, they were able to gain popularity and even compensation for her cells. Not only did Skloot give them recognition, but she also created the Henrietta Lacks Foundation which gives grants to education and medical needs. This foundation most likely makes the Lacks family feel as though Henrietta's cells are not only being put to use in science, but also in the public world.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Lacks family didnt get any monetary compensation, Rebecca skloot did give the Lacks family the benefit of public recognition in founding the Henrietta Lacks foundation. This allowed the family to become nationally recognized and also worked towards the better for the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Kaminsky
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Lacks family did not receive any financial compensation for what happened to Henrietta, they did receive other forms of compensation. They did get the Henrietta Lacks foundation which gives money to students and money for education. There isnt really a certain way that the family could be repaid for what happened to them because the damage is already done. You can do as much as you want to replace a certain item or object, but you can't replace a person.
Even though the Lacks family did not receive compensation for Henrietta's cells, Rebecca Skloot did establish the Henrietta Lacks Foundation. The foundation provided scholarship funds for the Lacks family and healthcare funds. She also publically recognized the family for Henrietta's cells.
ReplyDeleteDespite the Lacks family not receiving monetary compensation for HeLa,Deborah benefited from Henrietta's story coming out. She got public recognition from the BBC and got to find out more about Henrietta and the expensive impact of her cells on the scientific community. Deborah and the rest of the family became part of the story that was previously only about HeLa.
ReplyDelete