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$250 Billion Lawsuit for using Henrietta Lacks' Cells filed in Baltimore


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The family of Henrietta Lacks' has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Courthouse in Baltimore, MD B against ThermoFisher Scientific. The pharmaceutical company, listed as a defendant in the case, is allegedly responsible for profiting off Henrietta Lacks' cancerous cells to develop the HeLa cell line. According to AP News, the lawsuit asks the court to "disgorge the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line to the Estate of Henrietta Lacks."  That amount could total over $250 Billion. You may recall published reports, indicate in 1951,  John Hopkins Hospital admitted Henrietta Lacks to treat cervical cancer.  Doctors took the cells of the tumor without her permission. Lacks family accuses Thermo Fisher Scientific of selling those cells. 
Lacks' cells helped medical breakthroughs such as the polio vaccine, gene mapping, invitro-fertilization, and even the research that led to the COVID-19 Vaccine. 
Ben Crump, and co-counsel Christopher Seeger says the lawsuit will name other defendants. Kim D Parker, Esq (also present in the video) is the counsel of record. 

 

Links:

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/vessels-for-collective-progress-the-use-of-hela-cells-in-covid-19-research/#:~:text=Scientists began studying COVID-19,ACE2%2C to enter the cells.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/

https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2021/10/henrietta-lacks-family-sues-thermo-fisher

https://apnews.com/article/business-thermo-fisher-scientific-inc-lawsuits-race-and-ethnicity-health-1b7942bb535b3656195d2347c9e676be

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/maryland/mddce/1:2021cv02524/500650

https://www.kpcounsel.com/

https://bencrump.com/

https://apnews.com/article/business-thermo-fisher-scientific-inc-lawsuits-race-and-ethnicity-health-1b7942bb535b3656195d2347c9e676be
 

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Ben Crump is getting paid huh? I saw him, here in Tulsa, during the centennial commemoration for the Race Massacre.

 

The Lacks family, in my opinion, deserves compensation based upon the limited information I have.  I don't know who is gonna pay a quarter of a trillion dollars, but hey if they pay 1%.  That will probably be fair... I think.

 

I'm sure Crump and his team of attorneys will be happy with a multi-billion dollar settlement.

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2 minutes ago, Troy said:

Ben Crump is getting paid huh?

@Troy ,I laugh whenever someone says "Ben Crump" and "Paid" in the same sentence. They only notice him but never see the battery of attorneys who are co-counsel on these cases. I'm guilty of this too. He is the face of civil rights INjustice. This time I paid attention to whose name is the attorney of record. According to the lawsuit, Kim D. Parker is the first name listed. Christopher Seeger is also a co-counsel. 

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I've met a Lacks heir.  Their family could definitely use the money.

 

Ben Mumble Crump is definitely getting paid since he's become the face of these high profile cases. 

 

To Troy and Mel's point, there is always a team of attorneys behind the scenes. 

 

Somebody has to do the work while Benny Mum-ra is on every cable news show. 😁😎

 

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I read the book written about Henrietta Lacks by a white female author who did pretty well from the royalties.  I think she did set up some kind of foundation in Henrietta's name.  Oprah, of course, made a TV  movie based on this book. Wonder who was paid for the rights to it?  The story of Henrietta and her family was a rather sad one. Her survivors seemed to be a very erratic family group. In regard to the hospital labs using her cells without the family's permission, this was a routine procedure.  It was like using the afterbirth  of miscarried and aborted fetuses, harvesting these cells to save the lives of living babies. I think the latter is still done today. 

 

it figures that Ben Crump would be the current face of the civil rights legal team, inasmuch as a petty criminal, counterfeit-bill passing, ex-drug addict named George Floyd has become the martyr of the BLM movement 👩🏾‍🦲 ...says the person who has divorced her race. 🧑🏼‍🦳

 

@Troyhow about knocking down that Go Daddy firewall so those of us being blocked by it will be able to start new posts?           

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3 hours ago, Mel Hopkins said:

They only notice him but never see the battery of attorneys who are co-counsel on these cases.

 

Oh I'm well aware as I wrote "...and his team of attorneys..." Indeed, they are the ones as well, as a cadre staff, who actually do the work. (or so I've been told).

 

3 minutes ago, Cynique said:

Go Daddy firewall so those of us being blocked by it will be able to start new posts? 

 

OK @Cynique this is helpful info.  Give it a try now.

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, Cynique said:

I read the book written about Henrietta Lacks by a white female author who did pretty well from the royalties.  I think she did set up some kind of foundation in Henrietta's name.  Oprah, of course, made a TV  movie based on this book. Wonder who was paid for the rights to it? 

It will never case to amaze me how people can comfortably eat off someone else's pain, suffering, misfortune, etc.  

 

Even more crazy when it's white folks who stand to gain the most when exploiting people of color. They have a way of discovering and/or digging up sh8t like it's an artifact, blowing the dust off and reselling it to a new audience.   

 

Oprah Winfrey galvanized white women into giving her a fortune.  She's paying it forward by providing an innocuous platform that is Smooth Jazz for the eyes.

 

I wonder if that makes these people the human equivalent of a buzzard. 😁😎

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8 minutes ago, ProfD said:

 

It will never case to amaze me how people can comfortably eat off someone else's pain, suffering, misfortune, etc.  

 

 

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I agree with you, but those greedy selfish types do 

not realize they are doing something wrong because 

they often have no conscience.

 

This family should be compensated but I doubt that 

they will receive billions of dollars.

 

I am interested to see how long this will drag on and

what the end result will be. 

 

 

 

          image.gif.b05fef28d3e6760b4f9376c41adcdba5.gif

 

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  • 1 month later...

@Troy If you could please inform your subscribers that a book by one of the descendants entitled Henrietta Lacks: The Untold Story is available, since I don't see it on your site yet. I heard an interview and it should be getting more attention, and your site would probably be the best venue to sell and promote it.

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Henrietta Lacks the Untold Story by Ron LacksGuest OKZ the book is now available for sale directly on AALBC:

https://aalbc.com/books/bookinfo.php?isbn13=9781098307424

Henrietta Lacks the Untold Story
by Ron Lacks

"To hear and read constantly that Henrietta Lacks was a poor black farmer is hard to accept. Anyone that looks at her picture can tell that Henrietta and her husband David Lacks weren’t poor black farmers - they enjoyed the finer things in life. They moved from Clover to Baltimore, not out of poverty but, because they felt their children would get a better education here."

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  • 2 weeks later...

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