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Legal Age

Decent Essays

How did Henrietta’s status influence her treatment for cancer? Henrietta Lacks was a poor African American tobacco farmer from Clover, Virginia; she marries her cousin David “Day” Lacks and five beautiful children, the family moves to Baltimore, Maryland for a better life. Later Henrietta would be diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age 29-years-old; however she would pass away at 31-years-old. Henrietta’s treatment for cancer was affected due to her race. Blacks living in the south weren’t considered equals to whites; this was the Jim Crow. “When black people showed up at white-only hospitals, the staff was likely to send them away, even if it meant they might die in the parking lot.” (Skloot 15) Consequently …show more content…

They send Henrietta back home she only ended back up at Hopkins again; however when an x-ray was performed her abdomen a hard stony mass attach to the wall of her pelvic blocking the urethra. “Three day later, when she returned complaining once again of pain, a doctor pressed on her abdomen and felt a ‘ stony hard ‘ mass. An X-ray showed that it was attached to her pelvic wall, nearly blocking her urethra.”(Skloot64) This was only the beginning of problems for Henrietta. Doctors didn’t tell her about the dangerous side of effects of radiation treatment. If so, Henrietta would’ve chosen whether or not to have the treatment. But their prejudice cost Henrietta her fertility. “Warning patients about fertility loss before cancer treatment was standard practice at Hopkins, and something Howard Jones say he and Telinde did with every patient.”(Skloot 47) Doctors didn’t educate her about how untreated syphilis could affect her body. She was another black patient to them being treated for free of charge. Henrietta’s race didn’t allow her to have a doctor and patient relationship, in which she could have voiced her concerns about, her cancer treatment. They saw Henrietta’s skin color before they saw a human being in need of medical care. The doctors failed to educate her on numerous issues concerning her health care, Such as the effects of radium

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