Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Written by Rebecca Skloot, the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, utilizes the three major rhetorical appeals in order to convey her purpose to the readers. In attempt to expose the HeLa cells, Skloot is successful in creating many complicated views on the story such as trust. The main purpose of this book is to inform readers in effort to create discussion about the ethics behind the tragic story of Henrietta Lacks through her expert manipulation of ethos, pathos, and logos. Within the first few pages, ethos is established heavily.

Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is an essential character in the story who provides more insight on the journey of attaining Henrietta Lacks’ recognition. Without her, the readers would not have been able to see the outlook of the struggles and hardships of Henrietta’s family. Scenes, like the faith healing on page 289, would have been lackluster if it hadn’t been for Skloot’s input on the actions of the characters first-hand which delved further on how they cope with the new information they are presented with. Also, her thoughts gives interpretations on the situations she encounters. Deborah constantly looks at Elsie’s pictures in her car and starts thinking about sad thoughts that Skloot, at one point, wants to

Another example of this construct not met in the case of Henrietta Lacks was the lack of compassionate care. Patient experiences can be improved if healthcare professionals act with compassion and dedication to serve patients and promote their well-being. Henrietta suffered so much pain and complained about the discomfort as complicated by the disease process, but her complaints were ignored; instead, her doctors wrote just the opposite of what she complained about stating, “the patient states that she feels fairly well” and continued, “no evidence of recurrence” (Skloot, 2010, p.63). This is an example of deception, lack of compassion and outright contradiction to professionalism and commitment to the primacy of the patient.

Although she was taken from the world too soon, Henrietta Lacks was a warm hearted woman, and though unbeknownst to her, she would pave the way for the medical field and greatly expand our understanding of one of the nation’s

In expressing the power of privilege, Skloot talks about race, poverty, and the powerlessness that come from the absence of education. She discusses scientific ambition that Henrietta’s cells used to treat basic flu and cancers. The goal of taking the cells was

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

Henrietta Lacks was hospitalized at a time when doctors often lied or withheld information when they felt it best (63). Often information

The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” brings up a problem in society that was a serious obstacle in the field of medicine in the 1950’s. This problem is that the individual rights of a human versus the general need of humanity. The general need of humanity is much more important than the rights of a human.

Rebecca Skloot’s bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, begins with a quote from World War II concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel, “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 source of anguish” (Wiesel qtd. in Skloot n. pag.). This quote serves as a preview of the book and its underlying moral purposes, as Henrietta Lacks and her family are continually treated as objects without rights to their privacy and without regards to their worth or feelings. The dehumanization of the Lacks family by the media and scientific community not only resulted in consequences for the family, but influenced society, as well.

Discrimination, ulterior motives and misguided treatment impacted Henrietta just as much as her cancer. Henrietta Lacks suffers immensely throughout her short life, due to discrimination, her disease, and the ineffective and crude treatments applied in a drastic attempt to save her life. Additionally, the medical staff saw her as a source of precious material beyond her needs as a patient.

When three jewish doctors were instructed to inject their patients with the cancer cells, they refused, believing it was unethical. They believed it was wrong to experiment on a person without their informed consent. She also includes a lawyer named William Hyman who discovered that some of the patients that were being experimented on wouldn’t even be able to give consent because of health reasons. The inclusion of these people helped support Skloot’s claim because it gave her evidence that what Southam did was mainly for his own gain, and not for the

Henrietta’s cells gave scientists the ability to create desperately needed “medical miracles” such as “polio vaccines, some cure for cancer and other things, even AIDS”(159). Contrasted with Henrietta’s suffering, Skloot introduced another side to the story. The word “miracles” implied Henrietta had special qualities that scientists had yet to find in anyone else. Her body, coupled with her doctor’s shot in the dark to grow immortal cells, spawned a magnificent period in time with many new vaccines and saved lives. The new angle on Henrietta’s story made it not only her story, but also the story of countless other people. Skloot, who originally gave people clear direction in how to feel about Henrietta’s cells, threw a curveball and made everyone step back and evaluate what they believe is right. Skloot invited people to look inside themselves and sort through the mess of emotions she created, because she wanted people to learn not only about Henrietta, but also about their own

Some assumptions had to be made, including Henrietta’s medical records which were “A summary of many disparate notations,” (x.) and specific scenes from her life which were “deduced from the written record or quoted verbatim as it was recounted to her in interviews.” (x.) Despite this, all came from multiple sources containing credible information, and such information, though fabricated, is based on truth. Skloot includes them because not doing so would take away from the overall message of the book, making them necessary aspects of the book. Therefore, it is forgivable that Skloot used some fabricated

It is the story of Lack’s extended background and history. It is a story of race; poverty; ignorance and people who take advantage of that unfortunate trifecta. It is a story about science and ethics. It is a story that should make each of us reflect on the sacrifices made by individual humans and animals that have allowed us to benefit so much from "modern" medicine. It is a story about hope and perseverance. It is a story about love and healing. Lastly, it’s a story about the beautiful family she left behind. It is the story of her sweet and determined daughter, Deborah. During their visit at the Johns Hopkins lab, the book reveal that Deborah pressed a cold vial to her lips; “you’re famous,” she whispered to her mother’s cells, “just nobody knows it.” I get the sense Rebecca Skloot grew to genuinely love Henrietta and her family. I am in awe of this level of commitment. For all its grand scope, this book consists of skillful writing and touching compassion, this is one of those stories that genuinely needed to be

“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.