Screenshot Courtesy of Ben Crump / Twitter
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the family of Henrietta Lacks returned to court Monday morning to settle with the biotech company that used Lacks’ cells sans her consent and compensation.
Crump announced the settlement late Monday, remarking the terms were confidential.
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According to AP News, Lacks’ family and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, MA, began negotiating behind closed doors early Monday, July 31, and it lasted all day inside a federal courthouse in Baltimore.
After they agreed on the compensation, both released statements stating, “The parties are pleased that they were able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of Court and will have no further comment about the settlement.”
Crump held a press conference to announce the settlement and affirmed justice was served 70 years later on Lacks’ 103 birthday.
“No better present on what would’ve been Henrietta Lacks’ 103 birthday than to give her family some measure of respect for Henrietta Lacks,” he said. “Some measure of dignity for Henrietta Lacks. Most of all, some measure of justice for Henrietta Lacks 70 years later.”
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As News Onyx reported, Henrietta Lacks’ family sued Thermo Fischer in 2021, claiming the biotech company made billions of dollars from using Lacks’ cells without her knowledge and consent for research purposes.
In 1951, Lacks arrived at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for vaginal bleeding since it was one of the sole hospitals that accepted Black patients. Gynecologist Dr. Howard Jones examined Lacks and ascertained she had cervical cancer.
When Jones examined Lacks, he reportedly took samples of her cells and gave them to a lab for research without permission. Lacks died months later, and her cells were named “HeLa.”
Scientists found the HeLa cells fascinating, calling them “immortal” because they’ve lasted longer than others they’ve researched, believing the HeLa cells could lead to COVID vaccines, polio vaccines, cancer treatments and more.
But throughout their years of research, Lacks nor her family were paid.
In December, Virginia honored Lacks for her major contribution to many medical breakthroughs with a statue in the place where a Robert E. Lee sculpture stood before being vandalized during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, according to Sis2Sis.