Over the years, medical researchers have violated some individual rights. However, the results of Henrietta Lacks' famous study led to significant progress in medical research. In hindsight, it makes sense to choose to save a hundred people while sacrificing a single individual in the name of the greater good. In the novel Dawn by Octavia Butler and in an article written about Henrietta Lacks by Jessica L. Stump, the correlations become evident between choosing the common good over the individual. the choice to let an individual suffer somatically is acceptable when the common good is at stake. In Dawn, the Oankali attempt to save the human population from extinction. While the Oankali perform tests on Lilith's body, however, in this case the medical researcher committed an ethical taboo by using a person's corpse without their knowledge or consent of their family. In the article “Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa Cell: Patient Rights and Responsibilities of Medical Researchers,” written by Jessica L. Stump, the author recognizes the breakdown of individual rights post-mortem. To contribute to the advancement of medical research, “[his] cells became the standard workhorse of laboratories” (Stump 131), even to this day. Due to the success of the researchers' medical discoveries, "her [own] family's rights [feel] violated" (Stump 131) because they were never informed of Henriette's historical contribution. Lisa M. Lee, Executive Director of the Presidential Commissions, makes a harsh but valid comment when she says that “[t]he benefits of research must outweigh the risks to the individuals involved” (Strain 131). Without the healings that HeLa cells have brought about following the denial of one's individual rights post mortem, we could have faced countless other deaths to date, including the possibility of losing our loved one.