#hela cells

While i was in school this was still actively being fought. The audacity of the company to claim it was outside of the statute of limitations WHILE STILL BENEFITTING FROM IT IN THE ORDER OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Which luckily because of previous court precedents was already a null argument specifically because of them actively benefitting

The Lacks family says they may go after other companies that use the cells as well and i think they should

I hate how much of the medical system, not just the US but as a result worldwide. Is built on unremediated racism and many other prejudices that still permeate the medical systems at this very moment

consider the ethics of stolen cells, genomes, and viruses.

I picked up the book again today. I got to chapter 27 where a German virologist discovered the cause of cervical cancer was HPV-18 and HPV-16 (90% of cases) and how studying Henrietta Lacks' cells lead to the HPV vaccine.

I just received my last HPV vaccine (it's a 3 injection series over 6ish month) a few days ago.

It feels very strange to be so connected to this book. I'm a patient actively benefiting from research done on her cell line. I'm also a doctor who had informed consent drilled into my brain from day one. Not just informed consent but making sure the patient *understands* their rights to information, the diagnosis, treatment options, the ability to refuse any and all treatments, the right to a second opinion. On and on.

Page after page of this book is laying out patient privacy violations, broken ethics, a lack of record keeping, and complete disregard for the next of kin. That's the point though, all of this was legal from the beginning until the 80's and 90's in America.

It's a lot to grapple with. Research doctors injecting patients with cancer cells, taking blood from the Lacks family but never bothering to tell them why. The millions of dollars made from cultivating her cells.

I don't understand why this wasn't required reading for any of my classes for my biology degree, my medical ethics minor, or at any point in my doctoral program.

Informed consent was taught as the forgone conclusion but in reality had only been enforced federally for medicine and research for 30-40 years before I started my doctorate.

HOPES:

LOKIUS CANON LOKIUS CANON LOKIUS CANON

Loki being a total idiot

Sylvie being the milf we deserve

mobius being a lil dork

O.B. being cute

A Frigga appearance?

MAYBE A HELA APPEARANCE??? MAYBE???? PLEASE????? (I’ve got a cate blanchett thing)

FEARS:

More S*lki

Loki dying again