Henrietta Lacks, a beautiful 31 year-old, black woman who was hard-working with a lovely family, was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer in 1951. Her cancer cells were taken from her and given to Dr. Gey who put them in culture and discovered that they grew infinitely. Soon after Henrietta died, her cells were all over the world being used in laboratories for many different purposes. This is a great step for the Biology world, but there is a small problem with this picture; Lacks nor her family gave the doctors permission to take her cells, give them to Dr. Gey, and sell them around the world. This is one of the many injustices that black people seeking medical help faced in the 1950's.
One specific example of hospitals in the United States discriminating against blacks are the hospitals in Detroit. These hospitals were owned by wealthy white people who segregated races into different wards throughout the hospitals. Segregation people made their self-worth image deteriorate at being assigned to a lesser area of the hospital. There, they were treated with less expensive equipment, less medicine, and many other second-rate medical supplies that white patience got automatically. It was even alright for black people to be turned away from medical assistance due to their race! Due to this lack of care, there was a higher mortality rate for black patients over white patients.
There was a segregation issue throughout the whole country before the Civil Rights Era. This era was after the 1950s so Henrietta and her children were still very much affected by it. Especially in the south, there was segregation in hospitals among other public faculties. As stated before, black people could be refused medical help even if it was an emergency. Also, it was very common for black doctors to treat black patients. The catch with this is that there was a very small amount of black doctors because medical schools could turn down black students wanting to apply. So there was a very small black doctor to black patient ratio. This meant more white doctors treated black patients, but these doctors usually did not do as thorough a job on the black patients because they say them as below the white patients. Not only this, but unlike white patients, black patients had little privacy. Doctors could take almost anything they wanted form black patients. This happened due to two reasons. The first reason was that a lot of hospitals offered black patients free treatment, so doctors saw the patients privacy as pay if they needed it. This happened for Lacks when her cells were taken from her and given to Dr. Gey without her knowledge or permission. The second reason is that they were not educated enough to know that their privacy was being violated. They did not know what as going on in the medical world because most of them were not educated past high school, or even middle school. This led them to just take the doctors' word as truth. They followed the doctors blindly.
These issues led to many issues for black patients in the 1950s and 1960s. They were rejected medical help, privacy, and knowledge due to their race. These cause the issues that are so prominent in Henrietta Lacks' story. If these things had been avoided back in the 50s and 60s, then many other segregated law issues would not have left a negative mark on the medical practice.
One specific example of hospitals in the United States discriminating against blacks are the hospitals in Detroit. These hospitals were owned by wealthy white people who segregated races into different wards throughout the hospitals. Segregation people made their self-worth image deteriorate at being assigned to a lesser area of the hospital. There, they were treated with less expensive equipment, less medicine, and many other second-rate medical supplies that white patience got automatically. It was even alright for black people to be turned away from medical assistance due to their race! Due to this lack of care, there was a higher mortality rate for black patients over white patients.
There was a segregation issue throughout the whole country before the Civil Rights Era. This era was after the 1950s so Henrietta and her children were still very much affected by it. Especially in the south, there was segregation in hospitals among other public faculties. As stated before, black people could be refused medical help even if it was an emergency. Also, it was very common for black doctors to treat black patients. The catch with this is that there was a very small amount of black doctors because medical schools could turn down black students wanting to apply. So there was a very small black doctor to black patient ratio. This meant more white doctors treated black patients, but these doctors usually did not do as thorough a job on the black patients because they say them as below the white patients. Not only this, but unlike white patients, black patients had little privacy. Doctors could take almost anything they wanted form black patients. This happened due to two reasons. The first reason was that a lot of hospitals offered black patients free treatment, so doctors saw the patients privacy as pay if they needed it. This happened for Lacks when her cells were taken from her and given to Dr. Gey without her knowledge or permission. The second reason is that they were not educated enough to know that their privacy was being violated. They did not know what as going on in the medical world because most of them were not educated past high school, or even middle school. This led them to just take the doctors' word as truth. They followed the doctors blindly.
These issues led to many issues for black patients in the 1950s and 1960s. They were rejected medical help, privacy, and knowledge due to their race. These cause the issues that are so prominent in Henrietta Lacks' story. If these things had been avoided back in the 50s and 60s, then many other segregated law issues would not have left a negative mark on the medical practice.