Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot includes the topic of what’s ethical and what’s not. On page 130, paragraph 4, Skloot shines a light on the immoral actions of Dr. Southam. She explains his actions to make a claim, which is that doctors hiding things from their patients is unjust. There is evidence from the text which supports Skloot’s claim.

In Rebecca Skloot’s, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot refers to many scientists who have worked with HeLa cells. Since the discovery of HeLa cells, scientists have discovered various cures, medicines, and new information. Skloot refers to the discoveries from other scientists, in order to validate the research and ideas made by Leigh VanValen. VanValen believes that HeLa cells became a different species than the original cells taken from Henrietta, which is an accurate statement. VanValen states, “‘HeLa cells are evolving separately from humans, and having a separate evolution is really what a species is all about’” (Skloot 216). VanValen supports the idea that HeLa cells are a different species because HeLa cells have the ability

In the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ by Rebecca Skloot informs us about immortal cells and what they do with them. Throughout the excerpt Skloot claims that Southman was withholding information from patients that should be told. Skloot has relevant and sufficient evidence to support this claim although he mainly did it to maintain his study going.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is about a human named Henrietta Lacks who has an extraordinary story. The unruly dispute between the relationship with her personal family members and that of doctors, scientist, and authority figures. When it was discovered that she had cervical cancer Richard TeLinde was collecting cell samples unbeknownst to her or even being asked if she wanted to be a donor. All of the cells would eventually be given to scientist George Guy who spent his whole life on a mission for immortal human cells which came in the form of HeLa. With the only time asking for consent was when they asked David “Day” Lacks her husband to let them perform an autopsy. That brings up the topic of consent as well as the unspoken trust between patients and their doctors which they take advantage of. As a person multiple factors worked against Henrietta since she was a woman all while being African American. John Moore a white male who had hairy cell leukemia is another illustration of someone else who had the wool pulled over their eyes by the system. Even when he took the controversy to the courts the judge initially threw out the case with the conclusion of being the Supreme Court ruled against him.

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. She was an African American farmer with five kids and a husband. One day, Henrietta felt a knot on her cervical area. She went to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, were the doctors removed a small sample of tissue from her tumor and treated her with radiation. A scientist, George Gey, used the sample to create the first line of immortal cells. On October 4, 1951, Henrietta passed away from cervical cancer at the age of 31. Her cells on the other hand didn't. Henrietta’s cells, better known today as the HeLa cells, became the first and most important line of human cells ever to survive and multiply indefinitely in the laboratory environment (“Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”). This is where the story began. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Rebecca Skloot the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks became obsessed with learning the story behind Henrietta Lacks when hearing about her and her cells in a college biology class. She wanted to know more and find out who this woman was and why her cells were so important to science because there was little known about her. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cancer cells were the first ever immortal cell line in science. Skloot decides to tell their story but when she begins to dig and research she realizes that the family is very standoffish and does not like the idea of sharing information with reporters therefore it was very difficult to connect with them and gather more information about Henrietta.

In the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, the author Rebecca Skloot introduces the reader to a painful story of Lack’s family. The main character of the book, Henrietta Lack, had survived the interplay of poverty, race and science, as well as one of the significant medical discoveries of the century. In her book, the author narrates the lucid science tackling the issue of spookiness of the cells from spiritual perspective that the family was associated with while acknowledging that their mother was immortal. In fact, the author analyses compressively the various aspects of Henrietta Lack’s life and the HeLa cells which have made her life endless. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" dwells upon an uncanny thing in the cancer cells of the cervix of Henrietta Lack.

Reading Response: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot in my opinion is a great book it has its sad parts and it also has many interesting parts that add to the plot of this story. I feel that this novel is sad because the main character who is named Henrietta Lacks is an Africa American woman that was living in a time of segregation and was diagnosed with cervical cancer which eventually led to her death. While being diagnosed with cancer in the hospital, doctors used her for research without her consent or knowledge.

Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer while trying to diagnose her illness, John Hopkins Hospital got a sample of her tumor and sent to the culture lab. Inside the lab, George Gey grows the cancerous cells that began to divide into hundreds of cells that became known as the HeLa cells. The immortal cells help in the development of the polio vaccine and other medicines that would help fight cancer.

In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot claims that virologist Chester Southam withheld disturbing medical information from the patients in the cancer research for his own benefit. Skloot wrote about how Southam injected patients with cancer cells without their knowledge so they wouldn’t refuse to participate in the experiment. He believed that using the word “cancer” in any way would only scare them for no reason. Back then, what Southam was doing wasn’t illegal since there wasn’t any laws prohibiting it. The claim Skloot made was supported by the evidence because she gave information relating to Southam’s disregard for the patient’s knowledge or consent in the experiment for his own gain.

Medicine is a scientific creation that allows people to save the lives of others. In some cases, people give a part of themselves while they are still alive or after death to help the lives of other people. So, is it completely wrong that doctors use the tissues and cells from left over procedures or the findings they seem valuable during procedures without consent for research? Is it wrong that patients and families are not compensated from the miraculous research doctors may or not discover? Doctors everyday are saving the lives of people with the help from cell and tissue research. What seems to be the issue is that people are more irritated by the fact they are not being notified or asked for consent before hand. In a lot of cases, most patients wouldn’t allow the use of their tissues to

The story “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” that’s written by Rebecca Skloot. The author talks about a story happened in the 1950’s, and it’s effects still happening. The aspect that controls the story is power of privilege. In all places, in all times, power of privilege is specified for people who called elite. They get this power to control situations, but it does not mean they all deserve handling this power. This power created to control everything and improve or develop it. It is just considered under the actions that seem like what Skloot mentions in the story, but this power is related to all things in our life. Now, let’s go back to the story, and see the effects of that power under the wrong usage. At that period of time, the power of privilege was controlled by whites. The separation that was between blacks and whites, and the arrogance that some white people had encouraged them to insult black people. Dr. George Gey is the one of the doctors who used their power to do something no one at that time knew it’s consequences, which is taking the cells. On the other hand, Henrietta whose cells were stolen with out her permission. Finally, the results mostly affected Deborah which is Henrietta’s daughter.

The definition of power is a person or thing that possesses or exercises authority or influence. Power is gained by people over time, but it comes much easier to those born into a privilege, which is a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most. It is apparent that power and privilege go hand in hand. In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot focuses on two stories: the development of the HeLa cells and the lives of Henrietta’s family members. While in the scientific world of HeLa cells, the power is held by the doctors such as George Gey and others because of their rank in society above common people. Being born into privilege was not a luxury the Lacks family enjoyed; the path to power for the Lacks was much more difficult.

As documented in the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta lived her childhood in the segregated rural south. There was no real inspiration for her to attend school, much less develop a strong interest in getting a formal education. Segregation contributed to a cycle of oppression and poverty that affected Henrietta’s knowledge, and quality of life. The unfair early education laws, impaired all black children’s potential to learn, and negatively affected their confidence. America has laws that intend on producing, equal education for all children regardless of economic circumstances, race, religion, or academic ability level. On the other hand, a studied by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, find that “public school, especially in the south, is becoming re-segregated at a surprising level.”(Hancock Jones) Today there is evidence that suggest public education still needs equal protection reform in order to give all children a high quality education.

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