character perspectives
Deborah, Zakariyya, and Doctor George Gey were all affected drastically in different ways by the treatment that Henrietta Lacks received from the doctors at Hopkins Hospital. When Deborah first found out that her mother's cells were still living, she had a stream of questions. "Then Deborah bombarded him with questions: What made her mother sick? How was part of her still living? What did that mean? What did Henrietta do for science? And did all those blood tests he was doing mean Deborah was going to die young like her mother?” (page 346). Deborah was also suspicious of everyone who tried to help her find out information about her mother and her cells because there had already been so many people that had lied to her and tricked her. Zakariyya was one of Henrietta's sons, formally known as Joe. When he first found out his mother was still living, but only through her cells, he was indifferent and not very interested. However, he did want to get some money from the fact that he was not informed of the situation for around 20 years. He tried to file a lawsuit, but he could not afford a lawyer. However, when Deborah gives Zakariyya the picture of Henrietta's colorful chromosomes it was clear that he appreciated the gesture and deeply missed his mother. “I was not excited to meet Zakariyya. I’d heard several times that of all the Lackses, he was by far the angriest about what happened to his mother, and that he was looking for any revenge he could get,” (427, Skloot). George Gey was head of tissue culture research at Hopkins. He was the first person to successfully grow human cells and keep them alive - Henrietta's. His objective was to not make money off of his discovery, but only study the cells and test vaccines on them as well as other things. When he was accused of trying to make a profit, evidence showed that "Gey’s history indicates that he wasn’t particularly interested in science for profit: in the early 1940s he’d turned down a request to create and run the first commercial cell-culture lab.”
We believe that Rebecca Skloot would oppose the social justice issue for several reasons. First of all, Skloot became close with Deborah and actually witnessed the impact of the doctors' inconsiderate decision to keep the family isolated. “Eventually, as Deborah grew comfortable with the Internet, she started using it for more than terrifying herself in the middle of the night. She made lists of questions for me and printed articles about research done on people without their knowledge or consent—from a vaccine trial in Uganda to the testing of drugs on U.S. troops. She started organizing information into carefully labeled folders: one about cells, another about cancer, another full of definitions of legal terms like statute of limitations and patient confidentiality,” (Skloot, 490-491). This quote proves that Skloot was worried about her friend and how it affected her on a daily basis.
We believe that Rebecca Skloot would oppose the social justice issue for several reasons. First of all, Skloot became close with Deborah and actually witnessed the impact of the doctors' inconsiderate decision to keep the family isolated. “Eventually, as Deborah grew comfortable with the Internet, she started using it for more than terrifying herself in the middle of the night. She made lists of questions for me and printed articles about research done on people without their knowledge or consent—from a vaccine trial in Uganda to the testing of drugs on U.S. troops. She started organizing information into carefully labeled folders: one about cells, another about cancer, another full of definitions of legal terms like statute of limitations and patient confidentiality,” (Skloot, 490-491). This quote proves that Skloot was worried about her friend and how it affected her on a daily basis.