Henrietta Lacks Sparknotes

The main ethical issues in this case is that researches at Johns Hopkins Hospital used Henrietta’s cell in multiple researches and send her cells to other researchers around the world without her family’s consent. Moreover, the Lackes themselves were used in medical research without informed consent, and Henrietta’s medical records were release to journalists without her family knowing.

Henrietta Lacks died never knowing the impact her life would have on the world of medicine. A poor, black woman living in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1950s, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer and died only nine short months after her diagnosis at the age of thirty-one. The mother of five children, Henrietta most likely died thinking her family would be her legacy. Little did she know her doctor at John Hopkins hospital, George Gey, had taken some of her cells before she died. With Henrietta’s cells, Dr. Gey was finally able to achieve a goal he had been working toward for decades – creating the first line of immortal cells (Freeman). These cells have been used for countless scientific research and have solidified Henrietta Lacks’ place

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia. Lacks died of cervical cancer on October 4, 1951, at age 31. Cells taken from her body without her knowledge were used to form the HeLa cell line. Lacks's case has sparked legal and ethical debates over the rights of an individual to his or her genetic material and tissue.

The non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, details the happenings and life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman and tobacco farmer who became a medical miracle in the 1950’s. The book is written in an attempt to chronicle both the experiences and tribulations of Henrietta Lacks and her family, as well as the events that led to, and resulted from, research done on Henrietta Lacks’ cells. Henrietta was a very average African American woman in this period; she had only a seventh-grade level education, and followed traditional racial and gender roles by spending her time has a mother and caretaker, as well as working on farms throughout her life until the involvement of the US in World War II brought her and her husband, “Day” Lacks, comparatively better work opportunities in industrial steel mills. However, after her death in 1951 Henrietta became much more than average to doctors at John Hopkins when the discovered that cells extracted from her cancerous tissue continued to live and grow much longer than any other tissue samples. Further investigation and isolation of these thriving cells led to the creation of the first ever immortal human cell line in medical history. The incredible progress in medicine made possible by Henrietta Lack’s tissue cells were not without downfalls, though. The treatments and experiences received by Henrietta and the effects it had on her and her family demonstrate both racial and gender

Bobette met a research scientist who said he had been working with cells from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, Bobette’s reaction can be seen here, “But Bobette kept shaking her head saying, ‘how come nobody told her family part of her was still alive?’ ‘I wish I knew’ he said. Like most researchers, he’d never thought about whether the woman behind the HeLa cells had given them voluntarily’” (Skloot 180). The research scientist she talked to, along with countless other scientists, had never thought about the woman behind the cells and this is part of the reason nobody ever told the family about the cells. Bobette finally found out about the HeLa cells after twenty-five years of no information and a revolution in medicine caused by her late mother-in-law. But it did not get better for the Lacks family after discovering Henrietta’s cell line. Every time one of the Lackses asked questions about Henrietta’s cells, the professionals would never take time to answer their questions, to help them understand what had happened at Johns Hopkins with the cells, or to explain to the Lackses what Henrietta’s cells accomplished. The doctors did not care about the patients and their families, but more about what was in it for them. The doctors did not look at the situation ethically by not telling the family about the cells. They also violated privacy values, which are now rights. They

Racism is immortal just like Henrietta’s cells it will always be around. People would do anything to be the first to discover something. At the end of the day it’s all about the money. The Mississippi appendectomies and the Tuskegee experiments were similar in the way that the government forced treatment upon minorities without consent. Henrietta’s case was different than Mississippi and Tuskegee because the doctor in Johns Hopkins didn’t experiment on her actual body but on her cells without consent. Henrietta’s case the Tuskegee experiments and the Mississippi Appendectomies are all different cases in different locations but serve the same purpose which is to take advantage of poor and uneducated minorities to

Rebecca Skloot is an award writing author who’s book about the untold story of Henrietta Lacks was the New York Times Bestseller. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was published February 2 in 2010 by Crown Publishing Group. Skloot first heard about Henrietta Lacks in her community college biology class where her professor was teaching about cells and cell reproduction. At the time she was lost and confused about what she was learning in her biology class, but later on in life she would come to write about HeLa cells. She was so fascinated by the importance of Henriettas cells and all that her cells had allowed science to discover that Rebecca wanted to find out more about who the owner of the HeLa cells was.

Dr. Howard Jones analyzed Henrietta biopsy and diagnosed her with a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. Later to find out she was misdiagnosed she had adenocarcinoma. Lacks keeps her family in the dark about everything going on with her. She undergoes radium treatment for cervical cancer and her tissues are taken from body without her permission. The tissues are sent to Dr. Gey’s lab. For years scientist have been trying to produce a line of cells that can live eternally in a laboratory environment. Lacks tissue samples from cervical cancer, doctors isolated what became the first immortal human cell. Dr. Gey finally succeeded by using his own cultivation technique. It involved bathing the cell in a fluid of chicken plasma, beef embryo extract, and human placental cord serum, upon observation, Gey discovered that Henrietta cells were rapidly and continuously

What is a legacy? What does it mean to leave one behind? Whether we know it or not these questions have influenced our lives from a young age; taking on different forms and meanings as we grow. When we were children they asked us, ¨What do you want to be when you grow up?¨; we answered with things like a princess or a knight. When they asked us a few years later we said an astronaut or a rock star. For many of us, it wasn't until in high school when we were asked, ¨What are your plans for college?¨, that we began to consider the possibilities. Sadly for the majority of the masses, their life’s stories will only ever be known by their friends, family, and a select few. However, one unique individual named Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who had cervical cancer and had tissues taken from her body without her consent. This, along with her death, affected the lives of everyone in her family, especially her kids. Even though the children had wanted to sue Johns Hopkins for what they did, Deborah was able to help them come to peace with the situation- as much as they could. Deborah’s insistence to learn more about their mother helped them to turn their focus on Henrietta’s cells and how they majorly contributed to science. Rebecca Skloot was able to gain the family’s trust, because she wanted to learn more about Henrietta Lacks and her family, not only the cells that the whole world had known them to

Rebecca Skloot, a science writer has always been obsessed with the name Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was an African American women whose cancer cells were removed and used for scientific experimentation. Many doctors believed that cells were not immortal, until they found Henrietta’s. People did not know much information about Henrietta and her family, and so Skloot wants to tell her story. Throughout her research, she does not realize how much backstory, and emotional baggages exists until she contacts the family, and begins to connect with them. The family members are keen about the idea of opening up to people about Henrietta. They believe that reporters will just keep on taking advantage of them. With this, Skloot realizes that the

In the novel The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman, whose suffering changed the course of medical research is told through the eyes of the Lacks family. Skloot explains the story told to her by the Lacks family after much convincing that Thirty year old Henrietta Lacks was desperately looking for help in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for what she found and called a "knot" on her cervix. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer and treated with radium and x-ray therapy. In the process, some of the tissue was removed from her tumor and sent down to George Gey 's lab at Hopkins to be cultured, or grown, in test tubes. Gey was the head of the tissue culture department at Hopkins and he 'd been trying for years to get cells to divide infinitely in the lab so that the scientific community could have an infinite supply of human cells to experiment on. Neither Henrietta nor any of her family members knew about the tissue sample—and neither Gey nor Hopkins ever informed them. They didn 't inform them even after the cells began to grow amazingly fast and Gey and the rest of the scientific world realized they 'd just made a gigantic breakthrough in medical technology. Eventually, the never ending reproducing cells was used to create the polio vaccine, yet no recognition was ever given to Henrietta. Skloot presents the idea of the medical and scientific hospitals being tainted and manipulated by

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black women, whose cells have live-forever. In the book “The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, race and racism are emphasized throughout the lifelong struggle of the Lacks family. Since a white woman wrote Henrietta Lacks story, I think it’s well informed because it’s being disclose from another person perspective. I believe that Skloot’s race hindered her from creating Henrietta Lacks’ true story due to the Lacks family feelings towards the white race, and the constant mistrust of Deborah Lacks.

A man, Jarone Robinson, killed by his own family member, Michael Reed, to stop him from selling his son, Jayden Robinson, cells do to the embezzle of Nathan Robinson(an ancestor)cells and a woman, Henrietta Lacks, killed by the horrible tumor of Cervical Cancer who throughout therapy had her cells taken from her. Both Nathan and Henrietta come to the dreadful crime of having their cells stolen and made immortal. Their inextinguishable cells were and still are used for medical researches and cures for other diseases. It is inherently ironic that the Television episode presented the Henrietta Lacks story without consulting the Lacks family nor Rebecca Skloot for approval because the tv show and book show that plagiarizing is wrong.

“The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot exposes the truth about a colored woman, Henrietta Lacks, who died from cancer leaving five children and a husband behind. Before her death doctors took her cells,without her or her family consent, to do there own research and experiments. They discovered that her cells were immortal, they became the first immortal cells known as the HeLa cells..After the discoverment the Lacks family were never told that Henrietta Lacks cells were used, bought and sold. Through the HeLa cells the scientist had made money while Henrietta kids were mistreated and were in poor situations.It wasnt till 25 years later that the Lacks family found out about the HeLa cells doing miracles. Rebecca Skloot though “The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was able to explain the unethical situations that the Lacks family faced after Henrietta’s death.