Necessary Wrong

Henrietta Lacks' story revolves around a question that we have debated quite a bit in our past topics. Do the ends justify the means? I think that in this case they do. While I do agree that taking Henrietta's cells without asking her permission was not the right thing to do, I also think that if they hadn't a lot of what we have today might not exist or might not be as good as it is. I don't think one person from our class can say that they haven't benefited from the use of her cells. I am sure most if not all of us had chicken pox, rubella, measles, and the flu vaccine before. Personally I had all of those done, as well as had all the Gardasil vaccinations. Her cells were used in development of chemotherapy treatments of which my mom went through with breast cancer, so I am extremely grateful for that medical development made possible by her cells. I think that Henrietta's family knows how important her cells have been to the world, but the would like recognition that it was Henrietta's cells that provided all those possibilities.