Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Her family had realized that Henrietta had suffered and died, but her cells lived on and that her cells have helped so many people. Henrietta’s son said “I just hope Hopkins and some of the other folks who benefited off of her cells will do something in honor of her and make right with the family”(Skloot, pg. 328). Henrietta is finally getting recognized, which brought unwanted attention to the family from the media, doctors, and researchers that wanted a piece of the HeLa gene line. That affected her daughter, Deborah negatively because she never really knew her mother, but when Deborah first heard of the book she was very excited that the world would finally get to know her mother’s story.

Henrietta struggled with pain, bumps on her cervix, and abnormal bleeding. Henrietta was admitted into Johns Hopkins Hospital and was diagnosed with cancer in her cervix. Failing to mention her illness to her family, Henrietta began treatment at the hospital and her doctor was more than happy to help her due to his ulterior motive which was to use her

Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who lost her life to cervical cancer. Henrietta was born on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia (Skloot 18). Henrietta’s mother passed away, and Henrietta’s father could not raise ten children by himself. Her father took all ten children back to his hometown of Clover, Virginia where the children were divided between family members, and Henrietta ended up being raised by her grandfather who raised Henrietta and several of her cousins (Skloot 18). Henrietta grew up taking care of the family tobacco field, and she only went to school until the 6th grade. At 14, She had her first child with her cousin, David “Day” Lacks, and in 1939, Henrietta and Day had a daughter named Elsie who was developmentally

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

She continues to enhance, many, many lives who are unaware of her past existence. After all, she has a rich and important history and a great legacy that she left for her family to carry. We want to raise awareness and encourage action to problems the world is facing such as poverty, unemployment, racism, ethical issues, education, communication, and tissue ownership. Our family is focusing on positive aspects of Henrietta’s scientific contribution to the world.

Bringing Henrietta to Life: Creating Dialogue on Disparities across Disciplines Henrietta Lacks was a woman who made an eye-opening breakthrough in medicine in the early 1950s. Her cells were the first immortal cells to be discovered which paved the way for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in-vitro fertilization, and more. Unfortunately, there are two sides to every story. Although, modern medicine would not be where it is today without Hela cells, Henrietta’s family continued to struggle with her legacy because of the health disparities associated with ethics, race, and medicine. Henrietta’s cells were taken without her knowledge and used to cure various medical conditions.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Flacks tells the journey of scientific advancement in both a legal advancement capacity as well as an ethical advancement capacity. As if what I could only imagine being and African American woman in the 1950’s in Baltimore City isn’t hard and complicated enough; being and African American woman and seeking medical treatment without knowledge of the sickness without a voice or understanding of the gravity of the situation must be an excruciating experience and was for Henrietta Lacks and her family.

In the second section, Skloot tells the story of Henrietta’s death with quotes from multiple perspectives in order to establish her as a human, rather than just the origin of the HeLa cells. Chapters with historical context tell the story of cancer research when it first began to emerge, and begins to connect those events to Henrietta Lacks. In this section, the author’s research and interviews with the Lacks family are introduced much more often to start the transition from the topic of Henrietta’s life to the bigger picture, her importance to medical/scientific ethics. The final, and longest chapter concludes the book with the many legacies Henrietta left behind, not only for research, but also her family and humanitarian issues with ethics and

The physical and emotional pain that people feel due to cancer devastates the sufferers as they separate from their family. In Henrietta’s case, she wants to keep her sickness a secret so she does not upset anyone or cause a large fuss:

This essay is about the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, a scientific writer and college student in the 20th century. My objective is to summarize all three parts of the book and argue in favor that the family receives financial and emotional support. Henrietta Lacks and her family suffered tremendous emotional and physical pain that lead to the discovery and improvement of society, which is why they should receive compensation and support from the American Government. On the following pages, I will summarize all three parts of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, explore the difference between individual and population rights, and give a personal reflection regarding the book.

In today’s society we do not have to deal with the issues we had to in 1951. The 1950’s were a time of racial discrimination and failure for consent of patient’s cells. Today doctors ask for consent, if able to, before doing anything. Legal action can take place if failure of consent is taken place. The story of Henrietta Lacks is a story about both of these issues and how, because the failure to ask, made the world a better place while the family suffers.

The remarkable story of Henrietta Lacks was just the beginning of successful cell culture: a process by which cells are grown in a laboratory under controlled conditions. Prior to this, researchers had attempted to cultivate human tissue in the lab, but failed. Through the pain and anguish the Lacks family experienced, a new era in the scientific world was born. As a black woman in the fifties, she had the least resources available to her in terms of medical care. When she got sick, there was only one hospital that admitted black people, and she was kept in a separate colored ward. Due to the fact that cell culture had never been successful, there were gaps in the knowledge of cancer treatment. Therefore, while the doctors thought they were curing her, they actually were killing her. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, aside from the horrific death of Henrietta and the mistreatment of her family after the fact, hones in on the relationship between Rebecca Skloot, the author, and Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah. They have their ups and downs, but nearing the end of their journey there is familiarity between the two and a steadiness that resembles mother and daughter. Skloot explores every aspect of the Lacks family and includes the sadness and hopefulness expressed by all. She also writes copiously about the scientific significance of Henrietta and her particular situation.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a very powerful and moving book that should be read by all lay people, young and old, doctors, scientists and especially researchers in the medical field. They have an obligation to read this book so that history should not repeat itself. Anyone that wants to study DNA genes and cells should get written consent from the patients and their families. Rebecca Skloot, takes us on an extraordinary adventure about the life and death of the protagonist Henrietta Lacks; who was a southern “colored” person diagnosed with cervical cancer during her stay at John Hopkins Hospital during the 1950s. After a year of “Doctors examining her inside and out, pressing her stomach, inserting new catheters into her bladder…..needles

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.

I was touched by the reactions of the family to when they defined the term immortality and related it solely to their family. Skloot stated, “It was the closest they’d come to seeing their mother alive since they were babies.” (Skloot, 265). Deborah and her family believed that the immortal cells represented her mother. After grasping the comparison on what her family versus how scientists felt the cells represented shifted in my reaction. I became resentful and offended of the way the doctors treated Henrietta and her cells like a product. A women died of cervical cancer, and they were using her cells as if they were a common household product. This stood out to me because as an African American, soon to be Biology graduate, it shows how far we’ve come. I concluded that this book is about the discrimminations of a woman who lived in a time where African Americans were not treated equally by scientists and researchers. In the text, you could feel the vulnerability that the family felt; and to read how they were treated was depressing.