Henrietta Lacks Book Report

Also, had they known the cells were so special, they would have known what the doctors were doing when they asked for a sample of their blood to be sure they didn’t have any issues like Henrietta, while they were actually checking to see if their cells were special as well. With that knowledge, they could have demanded and incentive, and also demanding a share for Henrietta’s cells. I think more than anything the family and community felt confused, used, and disrespected.

Henrietta Lacks is woman, whose cells have been used for 63 years after her death in 1951, and will continue to be used as long as they are continue to grow. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was born in the south, who married her cousin and moved up north. After giving birth to her last child, she finds that she has cancer. The doctors took a sample of her cancer cells without her permission, and now have millions of dollars but the family is still hasn’t received the money they are rightfully entitled to. Many of healthcare and entitlements that are around today, are due to the ill treatment of Henrietta and her family. Still to this day, there is very little known about Henrietta Lacks, even with the book out, and she has

Deborah Lacks was born on November 5th 1949, and was Henrietta and Day’s fourth child. She didn’t remember much about her mother because she died when Deborah was four. Still without even knowing her mother, Deborah Lacks never appreciated the unfairness her family had to go through because of the doctors at John Hopkins Hospital. She more than any member of Henrietta’s family, was angered by the unfairness. Skloot interviewed Deborah for a whole year, but it took a long time to gain her trust. She told Skloot she did not want to get rich, but she wished she had health insurance to pay for the drugs she took that her mother’s cells probably helped make. Deborah died in her sleep in 2009; she was 60 years

The doctors were uncooperative with the Lacks family, the did not fully particularize the procedure that she underwent or the effect it would have on her. Furthermore, the healthcare professionals went drastically further in violations of her rights by taking a sample of her cancer without her permission numerous on numerous accounts. This is unacceptable practices conducted by the doctors. On the other hand, these cells became the groundwork for scientists to excel, luxuriating in breakthroughs achieved. The “Hela cells” contributed a variety of science fields from a vaccine for the polio virus, cloning, and gene mapping all comes through the use of her cells. Decades after her death the cells are still being used, her accomplishments in the field were relatively unknown till a student wrote this book. Henrietta Lacks never received the recognition for her helps in the achievement of the advancement of science, however, for a feat of this size one should receive glorification. For a student to have gone out of her way for someone they barely know, above all is unbelievably heart warming. This book shows us the unethical way that doctors practiced, but it turned out to better humanity, then left to examine this struggle to generate their own presupposition. The cells taken from her, furthermore, her family never received financial support. Consequently, this should not bother anyone at

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks was a woman who found out she had cancer. She went to John Hopkins Hospital where they cut out her cells to examine them and her cells did something weird. Henrietta’s cells were able to reproduce so the hospital sold them in order to help with science. No one knew the real donor of the cells since they went by the name HeLa which is the first letters of her first and last name.

When further research was done on her cancerous cells, without her family’s consent, they were found to be known as the “immortal cells” or HeLa cells. In addition to explaining her experience, Skloot explains how the discovery of the HeLa cell moved science forward greatly; for research for many treatments, human genetics, chromosomal disorders, and many diseases. A big portion of Skloot’s reason for writing this book was to explain Henrietta’s story. Her family is greatly involved in interviews while writing this book. Those family members include Deborah Lacks, her daughter, David Lacks, her cousin, and Lawrence Lacks, Henrietta’s older brother. In addition, Doctors George Gey who was the head of tissue cultures at John Hopkins and worked with HeLa cells and Howard Jones who had first examined Lacks’

This is where I began to notice the way that the Lacks family decided to cope with what life had handed to them. They were not people who had been well educated, nor did they care much for the science behind the immortality of Henrietta’s cells. They had boundless unanswered questions that they knew would probably stay unanswered forever. However, they believed strongly in one thing: God chose this for their family. “The idea that God chose Henrietta as an angel who would be reborn as immortal cells made a lot more sense to them than the explanation” that science had to give (Skloot

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot, a college student learns about Henrietta Lacks, becomes infatuated with her life, and wants uncover the mystery behind the cells that made history. Henrietta Lacks is an African American woman who died of cervical cancer. During the time of her treatment, her cells were “stolen” from her, taken to a lab and grown to aid in scientific research. These cells were known to society as “HeLa cells”, which assisted with vaccine discoveries and helped scientist receive a better understanding of human life. Although HeLa cells played a significant role in human advancement, Henrietta Lacks and her family suffered tremendously. Henrietta did not give consent for her cells to be taken or used for research, which

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the result of years of research done by Skloot on an African American woman with cervical cancer named Henrietta Lacks. Cells from Lacks’ tumor are taken and experimented on without her knowledge. These cells, known as HeLa cells, are the first immortal human cells ever grown. The topic of HeLa cells is the topic of many controversial debates. Despite the fact that her cells are regarded as, “one of the most important advancements in the last hundred years” (4), little is actually known about the woman behind the cells. Skloot sets out on a mission to change this fact and share the story of the woman from whom the cells originate and her family as they deal with the effects these cells have on them.

At the very end of the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks “ written by Rebecca Skloot turned the Henrietta’s story about how religious beliefs and spiritual changes the Lacks family views and get over their mother’s death. The question is; how did the Lacks family’s understanding about religion and spirituality to not be worried about Henrietta’s deaths and become optimistic? The first thing is the struggle to get over and release the burden about Henrietta’s death.The persuasion of Gary’s preaching and religion belief affect to Deborah, and the honor revolution for her mom. Lastly, the spirituality is about the message of God by sending Henrietta orders to fulfill the very important mission that God can’t do is saving our people’s lives, so he recalled Henrietta as an angel to make his wish came true.

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot is a medical biography that has forced me to question the ethics of the methods used in past scientific discoveries. HeLa cells are an immortal cell line that has been a major tool used in biological discoveries; such as the vaccine for polio, discovery of genetic diseases, cloning, and HIV and cancer treatments. Although most of the general public rarely has heard of HeLa cells, they receive the benefits of the medical research HeLa cells have been instrumental in creating. Even those who know of HeLa cells most likely did not know they originated from a poor, black, uneducated woman named Henrietta Lacks, before the release of Skloot’s biography. Lacks had a fatal case of cervical cancer

In 1951, a poor black tobacco farmer, named Henrietta Lacks, had her cells taken for a Hopkins’ doctor’s scientific pursuit. Little did Lacks and the doctor, George Gey, know that the cells rapidly multiplying in a petri dish in the tissue culture lab would fuel the exploration of some of the most important medical discoveries of the 20th century. While bioethics, poverty, science, faith, and medical developments are important issues that dictate the effects, motivations, and consequences of character’s actions, in the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, racism is still the most prominent theme in the story.

In the story “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” a woman is known for her immortal cells not for herself. Henrietta Lacks was a woman who went into the hospital because she had a knot on her womb. The knot was a tumor and a biopsy was done and it proved it was cancer. While having her procedures the doctor took a piece of the knot and sent it to Dr. George Gey. Dr. Gey cultured her cells and they became fast growing and healthy. These cells would start new scientific advances that not many people had even heard of to that day. This was Henrietta’s story and how she became “immortal” from her cells. Henrietta may not have known what her cells would achieve but she may not have given them if she had known. This is her story

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks is the breathtaking story of an African-American woman. Henrietta Lacks was a simple poor tobacco farmer whose cells were laboratory grown in 1951 by Doctor George Gey (Skloot 4). The cells are still universal in the world. Rebecca Skloot, a science journalist who dedicated more than ten years of research and dedication to know the Lacks family, writes the story. Rebecca’s interest in the story of Henrietta was when a teacher mentioned a casually in the class where Rebecca’s daughter Deborah happened to be a student. Later, Deborah told her mother about the incident, and the journey of discovery began.

“The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was written by Rebecca Skloot. Rebecca was raised in the pacific North West and received a BS in biological sciences from Colorado State University and a MFA in Creative nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh. She ended up teaching creative writing and science journalism at the University of Pittsburgh, New York University, and the University of Memphis. Her first book “the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” won over four-teen awards including the #1 New York Times best-selling Book of 2010. Skloot spent over ten years studying, researching, and interviewing to make her dream of getting the whole story of Henrietta Lacks into a book a reality. I believe the purpose of her writing this book is to tell