Essay On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lack

Henrietta’s cells being taken were not the first time that colored people were being taken advantage of in hospitals. There were many more blacks that were tested on and used as experiments for researchers because there lives were not seen to be valuable. African Americans also happened to be less educated, so whatever the doctors told to them they automatically listened to. Not only because they did not understand what they were saying to them and so they believed doctors knew best, but because they themselves did not know any better.

In both "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and "The Lives of a Cell" they discuss cancer and how through the use of cells,we could create the right medicine. In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" the author talks about the immortal cell line and how doctors took it without her permission. Henrietta's cells have made history in the advancement of not only cancer treatment but other illnesses.The doctors that cut out small fragments of Henrietta's cells didn't even ask for consent.Most people believe the doctors didn't see Henrietta's as a person that's why the doctors believed they did not need consent. Whether due to ethnic reasons we do not know, but we do know that Henrietta's cells still live on today and her body was not her own.

The perception of what is right and wrong is always changing because of history. In particular, laws in the past were considered just, but as years passed people began to question the extent at which these laws were just. Various medical laws and bioethical issues pertaining to Henrietta Lack’s cells being stolen are discussed in Rebecca Skloot’s non-fiction work The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. A question Skloot addresses in the book is, “Wasn’t it illegal for doctors to take Henrietta’s cells without her knowledge? Don’t doctors have to tell you when they use your cells in research?” (Skloot 315). In her nonfiction work The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Skloot employs authoritative warrants to argue that while it was not illegal

Elie Wiesel once stated: “We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.” This means that every aspect of a person is important because they all have a story to tell which is unique. They all are much more than the stories told about them. Everyone has faced challenges in their life whether it be emotionally or physically, but have also have had achievements. In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, both the scientific community and the media are guilty of having viewed Henrietta and her family as abstractions. She was an African American women from whom a scientists took cancerous cells found in the tumor located in her cervix. The cells were named HeLa and were grown to an inconceivable number and became

“…[F]or the benefit of the sick, [doctors avoid] any voluntary act of...corruption...whether [patients] are free men or slaves.” (2012) The quote above is from the Hippocratic Oath, which is a vow all doctors make, and states that doctors must not mistreat their patients. Nevertheless, medical officials’ maltreatment of their patients, especially African Americans, is a common theme seen throughout medical fields. The novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks further emphasizes the maltreatment of African Americans by showcasing the story of Henrietta Lacks who had her cervical cancer cells stolen to create an immortal line of cells, HeLa, that were used throughout the medical world without Lack’s or her family’s knowledge.

Rebecca Skloot wrote The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It was published in New York by Broadway Books in 2010 and has 381 pages. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer and this book is about the mistreatment that she endured as an African American woman by doctors before and after her death.

A legacy is leaving a mark on this world, you don’t have to be well known, but you have to have accomplishments. A legacy doesn’t just form by itself. It takes time, effort, determination, and a lot more to build a good legacy. Building a legacy is like the life of a tree, you start from just being a single tiny seed in the ground and then, grow into a tall and strong tree that’s rising into the sky even though it might take years you’ll eventually be as tall as a skyscraper. There will be obstacles such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and gales trying to bring you down, but you have to push through the hard times. George Gey in the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, built a long-lasting legacy

Sympathy develops from the image of those suffering. The heart cannot bear to see others in pain, and ultimately wants to help. In Rebecca Skloot’s contemporary biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot uses pathos to connect the reader emotionally to Deborah Lacks. The emotional connection helps the reader to understand Deborah’s stress and pain.

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot depicts the story of a woman named Henrietta whose cancer cells revolutionized science. Henrietta, a young black woman, grew up in the 1920s when Jim Crow laws divided the nation, making whites and blacks separate but certainly not equal. Believed to be inferior beings, blacks were not fortunate enough to have the things that white people were given such as good schools, high paying jobs and competent doctors. Black people had such poor health care and education that they believed anything a doctor said because they were lucky that they could even see a doctor. This willingness to listen to anything a doctor, or any white

The concept of ethics has existed as long as human beings have fostered conscious thought. Whether it be with respect to civil rights, animal rights, individual health and autonomy, or religion, consideration for others’ welfare is at the core of humanity. That is, until prejudice, mistrust, greed, and ignorance corrupt our morals and cloud our collective judgment. The tragic story of Henrietta Lacks, indicative of deep racial divides across the world and the financial, political, social, and scientific fields that perpetrate racially-based injustice, is a reminder of these corruptions. Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, effectively characterized the plight of the Lacks family and the modern implications of

Death is something that will eventually occur to everyone and everything, because it is a part of life. There are things that can be done to delay it, but it is not possible to prevent it. Part Two of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is called “Death.” There are some unfortunate events that occur, including the funeral of Henrietta Lacks and the death of Ivy. These two events changed the Lacks family for the better and the worst. These two events were some that they could never forget.

The Story of Henrietta Lacks is one of racism, poverty, science, faith, family, and bioethics. The story follows Rebecca Skloot’s journey as she learns about Henrietta’s story. Eventually, when she comes into contact with Henrietta’s family, Rebecca seems to know more about Henrietta’s cells contribution to science than the Lacks family does. Henrietta’s family, mainly her daughter Deborah, tells Rebecca about how the entire family is traumatized by reporters and how they learned horrifying things about their mother that the science community never cared to tell them. To me, this is the issue that stands out the most in the entire story: bioethics. While reading, there seems to be a moment, or even several, in each chapter that make you pause and think: how could anyone think that is okay?

A relevant study that derives from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks would be the study of animal testing. In the novel, Skloot refers to animal testing on monkeys and how HeLa helped this situation. Neutralization tests usually used monkeys as subjects, “which were killed in the process.” However, there was no concern for the well beings of the monkeys but rather “monkeys were expensive,” and companies needed a source that was cheaper. This is where HeLa plays a role, as these cells “weren’t limited by space” and could “simply divide until they ran out of culture.” This was an advantage for these research companies, as HeLa cells were inexpensive and could be mass-produced. This topic plays an interest in me because I’ve always been curious

The technology that people create can cause lots of responsibility and cause the world to change in many different ways. In the story shading the Earth and The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, there were many responsibilities that can cause the earth to change. Shading the earth will ruin eternity because you literally will make the earth dark forever and not be able to change it ever again. Deadly cells that will live on forever can also cause many people to have a responsibility if they decide to spread it all over the world and get everybody sick and cause them to die.

There are two types of values that everybody seeks, these values are intrinsic and extrinsic. An intrinsic value is something that is pursued for its own sake, while an extrinsic values are something that does not have intrinsic qualities. Because intrinsic goods are pursued for their own sake, they are inherently good. However, people pursue other things in life without a goal in mind, these things aren’t necessarily intrinsic goods, but rather a leisurely activity that one uses to waste time. The intrinsic good that is necessary for the good life is something that one seeks for it’s beauty, knowledge, or goodness.