"HeLa cells" were taken without her knowledge and became a cornerstone of modern medicine — but her family never saw any compensation.BALTIMORE — More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company, accusing its leaders of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Lacks family, announced the settlement late Monday. He said the terms of the agreement are confidential. Lacks was 31 when she died and was buried in an unmarked grave. A poor tobacco farmer from southern Virginia, she was raising five children when doctors discovered a tumor in her cervix and saved a sample of her cancer cells collected during a biopsy.
Attorney Ben Crump, middle, surrounded by four grandchildren of Henrietta Lacks and two spouses, head to an October 2021 news conference outside the Edward A. Garmatz U. S. District Courthouse to announce the filing of a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., a multibillion-dollar biotechnology corporation, on behalf of the estate of Henrietta Lacks in Baltimore. From left, Hope and Ron Lacks, Kimberley Lacks, Crump, Alfred Lacks Carter with his wife, Jewel Carter, and Jason O'Neal.
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