Can we say that Henrietta Lacks is still "living"?

[HomeschoolDad]

Henrietta Lacks - Wikipedia

Pretty amazing story. In a nutshell, she had cells that just would not die, and they continue to be replicated to this very day, and used in all kinds of medical research. It’s hard telling how many lives she has saved!

I know we speak of the unborn as having unique DNA, and that therefore they are human persons. I won’t go so far as to say that Mrs Lacks is “still a human person”, but in a sense, a part of her body is still alive, and always will be, as long as her cells are allowed to keep reproducing (or perhaps, kept in suspended development and not allowed to decay, until they are needed to replicate more of her cells).

So can we say that, in some sense, Mrs Lacks still lives? (Not to be tacky, but potentially, her DNA could be extracted, and she could be cloned. Not advocating, just stating.)

 

[Inbonum]

So can we say that, in some sense, Mrs Lacks still lives? (Not to be tacky, but potentially, her DNA could be extracted, and she could be cloned. Not advocating, just stating.)

Her soul is in Heaven or Purgatory or Hell.
Those cells don’t have a soul in them alone.

 

[Dlee]

This is an amazing story - the book and the movie were so moving. All she went through and how much she and her family did not understand - that was sad.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

No. She died. Her soul went wherever it went.

What’s going on with her cells is basically the same as somebody donating part of their body to science. The ethical dilemma here is that neither she nor her family were asked to donate or consented to donate. It was just done without her and her family’s knowledge or consent.

Cloning is not acceptable to the Church. However, if somehow she were cloned over the Church’s objections, that would be a new human being.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

What’s going on with her cells is basically the same as somebody donating part of their body to science. The ethical dilemma here is that neither she nor her family were asked to donate or consented to donate. It was just done without her and her family’s knowledge or consent.

I couldn’t agree more. Her descendants need to be getting a nice check every month for their mother’s contribution. Reading that Johns Hopkins was the only hospital that would treat a black woman was disgusting. What was the matter with people back then?

 

[redcatholic]

No, we can’t say that. Or everyone who donated organs would not be dead either.