Just a thought - I'm thinking others would be given what we would consider more compassionate, humane and professional treatment and with that thought I realized, it would not be the average person but the so called elite. Looking at that, it quickly becomes apparent the upper middle class and wealthy did not get that way or stay in that category without 'smarts' so to speak - just knowing the right person will only go so far - Communication is based on a shared understanding, which is affected by education and exposure to decision making with the belief that things can happen because we can, not only figure it out but if someone figures it out we are capable of understanding. Those with more wealth, beyond money and what money can buy, enjoy a certain expectation of respect and the confidence that goes with the ability to understand new ideas.
I think today the reason we receive a different level of respect and therefore, treatment from our health care is we are more educated and have different expectations - we are not 100% totally dependent on those providing us with health care so that we follow without question anything and everything they say with no thought of personal research or asking for another opinion much less even asking questions.
I am remembering when we were first encouraged to ask questions of a Doctor and to have our list of questions - unheard of even during the early days of my marriage and birth of my first two children - living so far from family I had no idea what to expect - the only women prepared were those who lived near their family and the kitchen talk was Mom's and Aunts, not so much grandmothers who had all their babies at home.
On the Doctor's side - two things - a research doctor is not known for what has been called bedside manner - they do little explaining. Also, few professionals look at their 'smarts' both education and simply living in a different economic environment as making them unique or different and how they can relate more easily to others who may not share their profession but have what they assume is a natural ability to understand and ask questions. They are not so completely dependent, almost like puppets of doing exactly what they are told because they do not understand and do not have the education to understand or to ask questions.
Taking this beyond health care - say in the area of investing - you have to understand how interest works and feel confident that if you are investing money in anything you will understand the professional who can help - How many banks or stock exchange offices do you see in the community is not just because of available wealth in that community but also, because the people living there understand they can add to their wealth and they learn that before most are out of high school. They may not know the ins and outs of the Stock Market but they know it is an investment that can add to their wealth and they are smart enough to understand with guidance. That is not true in low income communities or communities with lower opportunities for education or generations of the kind of 'smarts' that allows you to be more than dependent on those who do have the 'smarts'.
The the huge issue of introducing smarts into a community has been tackled by many universities - this involved far more than accepting lower test scores in order to assure those with less opportunity are given a chance - it involved tons of special classes before and often during the first year to bring students to a level where they could even function in a collage class. The cost of these special classes as well as the lower tuition was absorbed by the collage.
There is more to the differences in various communities but rather than faulting the profession I think it is as if two cultures came together and the healing culture became aware after the fact that they could have handled things differently but to me I see it more as if 'in the fog of war' and so they reacted with no thought to put themselves in the shoes of the other, the patient much less even have a clue of what those shoes were like. The emotions, capabilities, lack of opportunity with limited smarts in relation to any professional thinking that those shoes held.
The only saving opportunity for the Lacks was for the family to become dependent on the law and then a new set of dependence but also, hindsight is great and today what happened is only understood by someone who has a sense of entitlement that comes with being born where the opportunity for higher education was expected so that injustice is seen that those without that viewpoint only know of dependence on any professional not as equal who will offer an equal exchange.
Going back to the time when Henrietta was being helped and looking at the differences in poor communities - part of what helped many an immigrant family is they settled where there were more opportunities for various work skills - not only was money available, and yes, they worked exceedingly hard with long hours, but the areas had many middle class and upper middle class to learn there was something to aim for, something to save for and urge your children to take hold in a better life. Where as swaths of the country did not have opportunity for advancement regardless race and so there is a different mindset.
I see the author seeing injustice where the opportunities for the Lacks family was limited by far more than their race. Even we as we read we are questioning how much of our own DNA or cells have been used and for the most part, we are a more educated group of readers - can you imagine those, without our understanding and education even thinking much less questioning such a premise?
Yes, Annie I think the nuns and the teaching priests get a bad rap - but all we can do is smile and go forward... In fact surprise to me I was a part of a group discussing the ministry as expressed in most churches as compared to the education a minister receives - shock to me the sharing among the protestant ministry that numbered about 20 - they all agreed that in order to graduate any Bible-focused, ministry prep college, the collage or university in order to receive that status was required by the state to teach science so that these minsters were taught the very science they chose to ignore when preaching to their congregations. Those ministers present took this issue into another set of meetings to explore the problem.
