JUSTICE

Henrietta Lacks’ Family Settles Suit Against Biotech Firm Over Stolen Cells

The Black woman’s cells were extracted without her permission while she underwent cancer treatment at a segregated hospital.

Living relatives of Henrietta Lacks, the Black woman whose regenerative cells were taken and used for science without her consent, have reached a settlement with the biotechnology company responsible. Nearly two years after filing a lawsuit, the family, represented by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, made the agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific late Monday. Details of the settlement have been kept confidential, but the family’s legal team said, “The parties are pleased that they were able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of court.” While receiving cervical cancer treatment at a segregated ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s, Lacks’ “HeLa” cells were taken from her. They were the first cells to be duplicated outside the human body.