The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is the story of Hela cells and the women and family behind them. HeLa cells are the cells that have helped scientists all around the world discover cures and vaccines that have saved thousands of lives. But before they did all those things, they were inside a woman, named Henrietta Lacks, and were taken from her without her knowledge. Her family would not know about her cells until years after her death and millions of dollars in revenue gained from the HeLa cells. At the time doctors did what was considered common practice but did they cross a line? Or were the amazing scientific achievements enough to excuse the violation of personal privacy? Despite good intentions doctors should never have taken Henrietta’s cells without her consent, and furthermore her family deserves compensation for the work those cells have helped accomplish, and the sometimes horrible circumstances they have had to deal with because of the cells.

While performing the treatment Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. collected Henrietta’s normal and cancerous cell and sent them to George Gey, who was the researcher collecting any type of cells that the hospital would provide for his research, this was all done without Henrietta’s knowledge. In the 1950’s segregating still existed, and “Many scientist believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment.” (Pg. 30) Henrietta had a painful death in 1951, due to all the tumors that had spread throughout her body, leaving her 5 children without a

The public health committee made these vaccines and treatments aware to the public, and there were many articles and stories out about them. These responses were successful in improving the health of the nation, and the advances in medicine we have today would not be possible without it. On the contrary, they were not successful in improving the health of Henrietta or her family. The Lacks family still cannot afford the vaccines or treatments that Henrietta’s cells have made possible today. Their family was taken advantage of because they were poor and illiterate African American family. Their family has had many medical problems that the HeLa cells could have cured; yet they cannot receive any because they cannot afford

Due to the fact that Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells grown in a lab that did not die after a few cell divisions, they could be used for conducting many experiments. Her cells were considered “immortal”. This was a major breakthrough in medical and biological research. One major breakthrough was the development of a vaccine for polio. To test the vaccine the cells were quickly put into mass production in the first-ever cell production factory. Another enormous breakthrough was the successful cloning of human cells in 1955. Demand for the HeLa cells grew quickly. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta’s cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe from “research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits.” (Smith, 2002, "Wonder Woman: The Life, Death, and Life After Death of Henrietta Lacks, Unwitting Heroine of Modern Medical Science".) HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells, and there are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells. (Batts, 2010)

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

The HeLa cells are the first immortal cell lines. Immortal cell lines are not like other cells. These cells don’t die of old age. Immortal cells are important because these cells grow indefinitely and they survive and grow by dividing. This allows scientists to research more productively. HeLa cells are used for many researches to cure diseases and develop new drugs. With HeLa cells scientists did many researches and it led to breakthroughs in the study of leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, AIDS, and more. It became one of the important tools in medicine. These improvements in diseases saved lives of many people. HeLa cells are coming from an African American female from Baltimore. HeLa cells are taken from Henrietta Lacks’ cervix

In her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot discusses how the unfortunate diagnosis of cancer for one woman resulted in one of the most influential discoveries in the biomedical sciences. The use of HeLa cells has played a role in some of the largest scientific breakthroughs since George Gey discovered how well they can grow in culture. On the other hand, Skloot’s work also provides a look at the lives of Henrietta Lacks’ descendants. One characteristic that everyone in this family shares is a dedication to religion and spirituality. This juxtaposition between science and religion presents the body and its constituent cells in a unique way. It provides multiple dimensions to how people view bodies. Specifically,

Imagine having no rights in life. Imagine one day you get sick, and you go to the hospital to get better, but you get taken advantage of. How would all that make you feel? Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman. During her time, women didn’t have equal rights like men did, and African-Americans didn’t have equal rights like white people did. Since Henrietta was an African-American woman she had it rough, there were times that everyday tasks were a struggle. In 1951 she was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer. She was treated at John Hopkins University, where doctors didn’t do all they could even if they said that was the case, and were Doctor George Gey took her cells from her cervix without consent. I watched the Law and Order episode titled “Immortal”, I found it to be extremely similar to a book I read titled The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot even though the show said in the beginning that this was not based on a true story.

In the novel, the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Henrietta was a young black woman of 5 children whose cancerous cells were taken out without her knowledge. Those cells later became one of the most important tools in medicine. The case of John Moore vs. Regents of the University of California has similar ethical issues as present in the novel.

Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 of cervical cancer, leaving behind a husband, five children and some cells taken from her without her permission. These cells continue to revolutionize the scientific field today and have played an integral role in some of the most important advances in medicine: cloning, chemotherapy, gene mapping, the polio vaccine and in vitro fertilization. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks answers a lot of questions regarding the Lacks family, but also poses a number of questions regarding ethics, consent and how far society is willing to go to make medical advances.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a true story of a poor, Southern African-American tobacco farmer who died in 1951 at the very young age of 31 years old from cervical cancer. Little did she know that cells harvested from her tumor, which were obtained without her consent have lived on and on and became one of the most important tools in medicine today. Despite Henrietta’s story being full of legal and ethical issues, the story was one filled with success and anguish. Success for science as her cells served as advancement in medical research and development; yet was sorrowful for Henrietta and her family. This story occurred during a time of segregation in the United States, when Henrietta Lacks believed she

In both "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and "The Lives of a Cell" they discuss cancer and how through the use of cells,we could create the right medicine. In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" the author talks about the immortal cell line and how doctors took it without her permission. Henrietta's cells have made history in the advancement of not only cancer treatment but other illnesses.The doctors that cut out small fragments of Henrietta's cells didn't even ask for consent.Most people believe the doctors didn't see Henrietta's as a person that's why the doctors believed they did not need consent. Whether due to ethnic reasons we do not know, but we do know that Henrietta's cells still live on today and her body was not her own.

Social Injustice in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks In the novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, ehics and morality are highly questioned throughout the events that take place. Viewing this book from a perspective of social justice, one can’t help but question how much race, education, and class really have to do with the understanding of how Henrietta Lacks’s cells were used for science however, there is a sense of sadness in the novel that the reader feels towards the Lacks family, which Rebecca Skloot helps with. Not only does she help the Lacks family understand how important her mother is to science, but she also informs the reader about the ethical problems that were present during this entire process.

Henrietta Lacks was a “mother of five who died of cervical cancer at only thirty-one years of age” (Gabbay). When she passed away the doctors at John Hopkins asked her husband,

The effect the discovery and creation of the HeLa cells made on the science community and Henrietta’s family had a domino effect. Both had different opinions and beliefs on the matter; this led to some difficult questions asked of the family and of the medical community. Due to the new and advanced methods of experimentation, the HeLa cells made to to the field of science, the scientific community and the media failed to remember that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. Rebecca Skloot, however, took into account the Lack’s family, she inquired both the history of the HeLa cells as well as the Lacks family, treating them as actual people with inalienable rights.