I think that the debate about what was right or wrong in the case of taking Henrietta's cells will probably go on forever unfortunately. I'd like to compare this case to the one of Marion J Sims. Some people argued that he did many great things and made revelations in terms of women's medicine and health, just as Henrietta's cells have been used to further medicine. But both of these cases were done at the expense of pain of others. I don't think Sims should be considered one of the greatest men of medicine considering what he did to the women he experimented on. No amount of pain that they went through would have made it worth it for those women especially. Just as in Henrietta's case, if she had had the choice of having cancer and her cells being used for medical advancements, compared to being healthy and cancer free, I think she would have chose the later. What bothers me even more is that these medical advancements aren't even helping the populations these women came from. They are helping everyone but them. The fact that Henrietta's family can't even afford health insurance is absolutely ridiculous considering what happened to her. I think at the very least her children should have free healthcare for growing up without a mother and professionals making a profit on her cells that they took unethically.
Erin Pattridge
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