Informing a patient or relatives about the use of samples obtained via medical procedures was not required in 1951, nor is it required today. The 1990 Supreme Court of California case of Moore v. Regents of the University of California ruled a person's cells are not his or her property and may be commercialized.
What HeLa Cells Are and Why They Are Important
The World's First Immortal Human Cell Line
https://www.thoughtco.com/hela-cells-4160415
HeLa cells are the first immortal human cell line. The cell line grew from a sample of cervical cancer cells taken from an African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks on February 8, 1951. The lab assistant responsible for the samples named cultures based on the first two letters of a patient's first and last name, thus the culture was dubbed HeLa. In 1953, Theodore Puck and Philip Marcus cloned HeLa (the first human cells to be cloned) and freely donated samples to other researchers. The cell line's initial use was in cancer research, but HeLa cells have led to numerous medical breakthroughs and nearly 11,000 patents.
As was the norm at the time, Henrietta Lacks was not informed her cancer cells were going to be used for research. Years after the HeLa line had become popular, scientists took samples from other members of the Lacks family, but they did not explain the reason for the tests. In the 1970s, the Lacks family was contacted as scientists sought to understand the reason for the aggressive nature of the cells. They finally knew about HeLa. Yet, in 2013, German scientists mapped the entire HeLa genome and made it public, without consulting the Lacks family....
**********...Yet, the Lacks family did reach an agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding access to the HeLa genome. Researchers receiving funds from the NIH must apply for access to the data. Other researchers are not restricted, so data about the Lacks' genetic code is not completely private.
While human tissue samples continue to be stored, specimens are now identified by an anonymous code. Scientists and legislators continue to wrangle with questions of security and privacy, as genetic markers may lead to clues about an involuntary donor's identity.
"...the most significant application of HeLa cells may have been in the development of the first polio vaccine. HeLa cells were used to maintain a culture of polio virus in human cells. In 1952, Jonas Salk tested his polio vaccine on these cells and used them to mass-produce it."