The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

In the time that Henrietta was being treated for cancer, black people were treated very differently that white people. They were separated into ‘colored wards’ and given less treatment, or treatment on a lower quality, than

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

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.

Can you imagine going to the doctor and doing whatever that doctor told you was the best for you without asking questions? Well that is what patients did in the 1950s, especially African Americans, who were still being victims of racial prejudice and segregation. In this book, the author, Rebecca Skloot tells us about Henrietta Lacks, a 31 year old African American woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and trusted her doctors, who took a sample of her cells without her knowledge. These cells would help in scientific discoveries that helped millions of people. Henrietta died of cancer and her family is devastated when they find out that the cells had been taken without permission, and that they were being sold for profit.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta Lacks. In the early 1951 Henrietta discovered a hard lump on the left of the entrance of her cervix, after having unexpected vaginal bleeding. She visited the Johns Hopkins hospital in East Baltimore, which was the only hospital in their area where black patients were treated. The gynecologist, Howard Jones, indeed discovers a tumor on her cervix, which he takes a biopsy off to sent it to the lab for diagnosis. In February 1951 Henrietta was called by Dr. Jones to tell about the biopsy results: “Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I”, in other words, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Before her first radium treatment, surgeon dr.

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 things that make one human are convoluted. That’s why in a world where everyone strives for simplicity, people are often eluded by the nature of humanity. They often overlook certain aspects of a person in favor of simplicity, reducing them to a single idea which fails to encompass all the facets of an individual, which is what happens to the Henrietta Lacks’ family in Rebecca Skloots recounting of their story called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. However, this has its ramifications. Even though many feel it is simpler to dismiss the messier details of humanity in favor of cold hard facts, Skloot shows that major consequences arrive when these personal elements are overlooked.

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.

The 1950s are very different times in America, especially for blacks that are seeking medical care from hospitals or clinics, where racial discrimination is still quite widespread. The struggles that blacks face at this time period are only made worse by the poor treatment from the doctors and the sheer disregard for black patients, in comparison to white patients, “But several studies have shown that black patients were treated and hospitalized at later stages in their illnesses than white patients. And once hospitalized, they got fewer pain medications and higher mortality rates” (Skloot, 64). Henrietta’s life is greatly affected by the racism in

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is composed of three sections: life, death, and immortality. The first section, life, focuses on Henrietta’s life; from birth to death. Her struggles with cancer, her husband and children, and her strong personality are all included in this section. The second section, death, focuses on the events that happened after Henrietta herself passed away, the official cause of death being blood poisoning from a buildup of toxins. The third and final section, immortality, focuses on the immortality of HeLa cells and how they are still being used today, over sixty years later. Throughout the entire book the timeline is never from one year to the next. Skloot puts the book together in such a way that, although the timeline isn’t in order, the book still makes chronological sense. Through sections and chapters, Skloot paints a picture, not only of Henrietta’s life, but also of how she and her cells have influenced modern medicine.

The Henrietta who kept her cancer a secret for as long as she possibly could and only told Sadie, Margaret, and Day that she was sick because she did not want to worry anyone (Skloot 65). The Henrietta who treasured and unconditionally loved her children, more specifically the quality of life of her children. Henrietta and her daughter, Elsie's, relationship reveals more about Henrietta than any scientific journal ever could. Instead of putting Elsie in Crownsville State Hospital, formerly known as the Hospital for the Negro Insane, and walking away forever, ridding herself of the "burden" of a child like Elsie, Henrietta continued to make time for her by visiting her once a week (Skloot 45). I wholeheartedly believe that when Henrietta died, the greatest treasure she was worried about was her children. Rightfully so, though, as her children ended up facing the horrid abuse of Ethel and Galen when Day decided to no longer raise his own children (Skloot

After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of the society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa Cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years to perfect her first book, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot essentially captured the life, the death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks’ life. With controversial issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover,

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.

“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.