Quotes Page
Even though Henrietta felt the cancer multiplying inside of her, many felt like it wasn’t true. She constantly spent days in agonizing pain and “…she thought the cancer was spreading, that she could feel it moving through her, but [doctors] found nothing wrong with her.” Although Henrietta felt the excruciating pain that the cervical cancer left her with, she listened to Dr. Gey, who she knew best, because he was a doctor.
As you read this section of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on page 63, you feel that the credibility of the doctor towards Henrietta Lacks. Since he was a doctor, Henrietta believed that he would do what’s best for her and that he knew what he was doing. This was the complete opposite of what actually happened. Since Henrietta was a female, she had absolutely no authority or right to question a male, especially because she was a Negro and he was white.
If Henrietta Lacks would have doubted Dr. Gey’s diagnosis, then he probably would have stopped the diagnosis and radiation, which was even still harming instead of helping Henrietta. Although, it did hurt her, however, it did help her as well. Stopping Lack’s radiation would have still killed her, but faster than it did. Instead of her almost year battle, the cancer cells would have spread quicker and cut her time short a couple of months.
As you read this section of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on page 63, you feel that the credibility of the doctor towards Henrietta Lacks. Since he was a doctor, Henrietta believed that he would do what’s best for her and that he knew what he was doing. This was the complete opposite of what actually happened. Since Henrietta was a female, she had absolutely no authority or right to question a male, especially because she was a Negro and he was white.
If Henrietta Lacks would have doubted Dr. Gey’s diagnosis, then he probably would have stopped the diagnosis and radiation, which was even still harming instead of helping Henrietta. Although, it did hurt her, however, it did help her as well. Stopping Lack’s radiation would have still killed her, but faster than it did. Instead of her almost year battle, the cancer cells would have spread quicker and cut her time short a couple of months.
It's essential for a doctor to have the consent of the patient before operating on them because if something goes wrong, the doctor will be the one at fault. In Henrietta's case, in order to shrink her tumor, she'd have to undergo radiation. This was thought as a good thing to help her, but what she didn't know was that something meant to help her would actually end up hurting her. The news that she would later find out would cause her to regret even finding ease in the first place.
The doctor never informed her that her treatment would prevent her from having any more kids. He stated in his charts that he did, but it was a lie. Not only was that wrong to not inform her of the effects of the radiation, but lie to the records that he did. When she found out her restriction, she immediately started to regret getting the help she already began receiving, saying that, "...if she had been told so before, she would not have gone through with [it]." By then she had already began her rounds of treatment and "it was too late," so there was nothing Henrietta could do about it. The radiation eventually began burning both the internal and external parts of her body around the vaginal/cervix area.
The help was no match for the tumor that, over time, spread throughout her body and claimed the life of Henrietta Lacks. Her death, in 1951, might have been prevented, but even if the radiation did kill the cancer, she'd never be able to reproduce. To Henrietta, reproducing was a valued thing. She wanted to have a bigger family, but with undergoing treatment, it stopped that completely, shattering her dreams of having anymore children of her own.
The doctor never informed her that her treatment would prevent her from having any more kids. He stated in his charts that he did, but it was a lie. Not only was that wrong to not inform her of the effects of the radiation, but lie to the records that he did. When she found out her restriction, she immediately started to regret getting the help she already began receiving, saying that, "...if she had been told so before, she would not have gone through with [it]." By then she had already began her rounds of treatment and "it was too late," so there was nothing Henrietta could do about it. The radiation eventually began burning both the internal and external parts of her body around the vaginal/cervix area.
The help was no match for the tumor that, over time, spread throughout her body and claimed the life of Henrietta Lacks. Her death, in 1951, might have been prevented, but even if the radiation did kill the cancer, she'd never be able to reproduce. To Henrietta, reproducing was a valued thing. She wanted to have a bigger family, but with undergoing treatment, it stopped that completely, shattering her dreams of having anymore children of her own.
|
|