Henrietta Lacks' cells live after her death in '51

 The Bible book of Isaiah says: “And no resident will say: “I am sick.” The people that are dwelling in [the land] will be those pardoned for their error.” (Isaiah 33:24) This also suggests that we could live forever were it not for sin.

 Sin is the error that led to death for mankind. What Adam gave us, when he sinned against God's rule in the Garden of Eden. Sin led us all to imperfection and poor and dying bodies. Until that future time on Earth, medical care wil continue to be expensive and probably profit driven.

How does that relate to the U.S. Health care system. It relates because the profit motive is what generates research companies to develope new medicines and health aids. Just recently 60 minutes documented how scientific research companies have patented genes from our bodies. And writer, Rebecca Skloot recently wrote a book entitled: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” That book documented how her cells have continued to live outside her dead body since 1951.

Both of these cases exemplify why and how research companies deal with people from the profit motive. Morley Safer's report on '60 Minutes' generated the following information:

Myriad Genetics owns a breast cancer patent on a gene and charges $3200. A female cancer patient on the show wanted to take the test, but her insurance company would not pay the entire fee. Since Myriad is the owner of the patent, she has no other way to get the vital test she needed. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/01/60minutes/main6354069.shtml)

The argument by a spokesman for one of the companies, is that its very expensive to research and develop such a test and that patents are the only way such firms will undergo the capital outlay required to bring them to market. But a clearer truth might be, that they would only do so, as long as they knew, upon development they could recoup their expenses.

 HeLa's cells:  the most prolific cells known   

If their patent didn't allow them to set their own pricing it would not be worth it to spend the research dollars. Its like the fight on the Aids research front. Investment has been slowed since the profit motive doesn't appear to be as potentially rewarding as breast cancer research.

Now that the new health care bill has become law, it is not known what effect it would have on these issue. But it is clear that fees would be more in line with what patients could pay if there were not incentives to develop them solely from a  profit standpoint in the first place.

(http://bit.ly/bFegDI)
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, she died at 31 years of age. Also she was a black woman who died of cervical cancer. Yet some of her cells, which were taken from her without her permission, or even without her knowledge, are still being kept alive by scientists.( And it is possible that some of her cells may have found their way into being patented.)

The extant cells have been dubbed the HeLa cells and they continue to be the mainstay of research labs the world over. It wasn't until 1970 that her family even knew about the deception. When there was a chance that her identity might be known before then– researchers changed the donors name to Helen Lane.