The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

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.

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

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.

In 1951, one woman’s misfortune became the ultimate breakthrough and lead to a huge discovery in science. Henrietta Lacks was a lower class African-American woman living in Baltimore, Maryland at the time. She had been suffering from a “knot in her womb” that caused her to experience grave pain. In the 1950’s, a time when hospitals turned away lower class African American patients away, they had access to receive free treatment from the public ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Although doctors there agreed to examine these patients, it is questionable how thorough and genuine they were throughout the examination. In 1950, Henrietta gave birth to her youngest daughter Deborah, and by January of 1951 she had a full-blown cancerous tumor in

The book of 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ' is about a mother that had die with a unknown cancers in which her cancerous cells stayed alive outside her body. Her family doesn 't knowns until many years later when reporters and doctors starts to talk about her mothers cells in world wide. Her family wants to learn more about her mothers cells but not many of the reporter and doctors are much help. Until Rebecca Skloots the authors of this book helps her family to understand more about Henrietta cells and helps the future Lacks family education. Throughout this book they were many themes that stand out, but what caught my attention the most were the lack of education, cells and tissue ownership, and the trust.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot is a book filled with drama and ethical dilemmas. The book is broken into three sections which focus not only on the story of Henrietta Lacks, but the life of her family following her death. Part one, Life introduces readers to Henrietta and her family before she was officially the woman behind HeLa. In this section, it is discovered that Henrietta was born in Roanoke, Virginia, but due to her mom dying while she was young she relocated to Clover, Virginia. While in Clover, she fell in love with her cousin Day and they went on to get married and had five children. The Lacks children are Lawrence, Elsie, Sonny, Deborah, and Zakariyya who were all greatly affected by the loss of their

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot depicts the story of a woman named Henrietta whose cancer cells revolutionized science. Henrietta, a young black woman, grew up in the 1920s when Jim Crow laws divided the nation, making whites and blacks separate but certainly not equal. Believed to be inferior beings, blacks were not fortunate enough to have the things that white people were given such as good schools, high paying jobs and competent doctors. Black people had such poor health care and education that they believed anything a doctor said because they were lucky that they could even see a doctor. This willingness to listen to anything a doctor, or any white

When I first began reading the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, I expected it to only be about the science behind HeLa cells, which I didn’t find particularly exciting. Except, I was proven very wrong. I have not been able to put this book down, for Rebecca Skloot is a remarkable writer who entices the reader with the emotional story of Henrietta Lacks and her family. It is true that there were quite a few scientific studies included within this book, but they never dampened the adventure. If anything the studies were integrated in such a way that I feel they were needed in order to understand all of the perspectives. Reading all of the scientific advancements made using HeLa cells left me happy, but also led me to question how justifiable it was. These researchers took Henrietta’s cells and used them without her even being aware of their actions. I believe the original intent of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was to humanize and give Henrietta and her family credit for the advancement in science that her cells, the HeLa cells, contributed; thus leading me to my conclusion that the advancement in science using HeLa cells is not justifiable because of the harm inflicted on both the family and society.

To discuss all the benefits that cultured cells would be hard to do just in this research paper. Nevertheless, we have discovered more from cultured cells in the last 20 years than we had in 50 years. Benefits that came from these cultured cells stem all the way from vaccines to starting cell lines. More scientific advancements include tons more on our genetics and DNA. We are able now to grow human body parts and help live longer lives too thanks to cultured cells. Nonetheless, cultured cells have given us countless benefits that have affected our history in science and humankind today. But the cells weren’t all benefits for Henrietta and the Lack’s family. Henrietta Lacks and the Lacks family were blown off by doctors for Henrietta’s diagnosis and the information that Lacks family was suppose to be given. To support my response here is a quote from “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” “ Warning patients about fertility loss before cancer treatment was standard practice at Hopkins, and something Howard Jones says he and TeLinde did with every patient. In fact, a year and a half before Henrietta came to Hopkins for treatment, in a paper about hysterectomy, TeLinde wrote:

The experimentation on human beings has always been controversial in medical science. In the film, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017), begins with Rebecca Skloot, a freelance writer, contacting Deborah Lacks about the story of her mother Henrietta (Wolfe & Dean). Henrietta was an African American woman who died of cervical cancer; her cells, however, are still around to this day. Henrietta’s cells are unlike any other human cells as her cells can replicate every 24 hours in a Petri dish and scientists have used her cells in much medical research for many years (Wolfe & Dean). Also dubbed the HeLa cells, these cells helped advance medical science in the following: finding a cure for polio, disease research, gene mapping, including

When I received the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I took a quick glance at

The theme I have selected for my book is “...Despite one’s best effort, humanity will not always return the favor. Life is not a balanced scale; life is a dance of give and take that can leave one person on top of the world and another buried six feet under.” This theme can be linked to my poster’s slogan: “It is possible to be chained by the stories we have yet to tell,” because the chains that bound the Lacks family were the cause of the unjustness they were subjected to. The image I selected represents my slogan and the characters in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks because they felt locked up, left to rot as they wondered what had happened to their mother. The chains are the lies, the secrets, and the manipulations that the Lacks family

People should not be seen as an experiment or number; individuals deserve to be treated as a person regardless of race or color. In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Henrietta, was never given her own rights, and was used to benefit others. Scientists and researchers profited millions from the HeLa cell line, leaving Henrietta unaware of the legacy she left behind. Henrietta had tough up brining, and was a woman who was more concerned about other people than herself. The media and scientific community are responsible for treating and viewing Henrietta and her family as abstractions. The author, Rebecca Skloot’s perception can be interpreted and trusted by the amount of research, countless sources, and examples showing the family’s lack of understanding and knowledge about everything in relation to HeLa cells and the medical world.

In the tenth grade, my honors biology class was required to read the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". I was reluctant to have to read this book as most fifteen-year-olds would be because I had "better things to do", but once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I was enraptured by the nature of scientific research of the human body and how our cells reproduce and react differently under different conditions. This book was not solely about the research of the controversial "HeLa cells" but more about the nature of ethics versus science for the greater good. However, the scientific rhetoric within the passages as well as the intrigue of the mystery of the human body led me to realize my love for biology. In addition to the revelation,

“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.