Over the years, medical researchers have violated parts of individual rights. However, the results of Henrietta Lacks' famous study led to significant advances in medical research. In hindsight, it makes sense to choose to save a hundred people by sacrificing just one individual for the greater good. In the novel Dawn by Octavia Butler and in an article written about Henrietta Lacks by Jessica L. Stump, correlations become evident between choosing the greater good over the individual. the choice to let an individual suffer on a somatic level is acceptable when the greater good is in question. In Dawn, the Oankali attempt to preserve the human population from extinction. Since 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 him or his family's knowledge or consent. In the article “Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa Cell: Patients' Rights and Medical Researchers' Responsibilities,” written by Jessica L. Stump, the author recognizes the collapse of individual rights post-mortem. To aid advances in medical research, “[his] cells have become the standard workhorse of the laboratory” (Stump 131) even today. As a result of the researchers' successful medical discoveries, “her [own] family's rights, [feel] violated” (Stump 131) because they were never informed of Henrietta's historical contribution. Executive Director of the Presidential Commissions Lisa M. Lee makes a stark but valid comment stating that “[t]he benefits of research must outweigh the risks to the individuals involved” (Stump 131). Without the healing provided by HeLa cells following the denial of her individual rights post-mortem, to this day we could have faced countless more deaths, including the possibility of losing our loved ones.