The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Summary

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the result of years of research done by Skloot on an African American woman with cervical cancer named Henrietta Lacks. Cells from Lacks’ tumor are taken and experimented on without her knowledge. These cells, known as HeLa cells, are the first immortal human cells ever grown. The topic of HeLa cells is the topic of many controversial debates. Despite the fact that her cells are regarded as, “one of the most important advancements in the last hundred years” (4), little is actually known about the woman behind the cells. Skloot sets out on a mission to change this fact and share the story of the woman from whom the cells originate and her family as they deal with the effects these cells have on them.

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot is a medical biography that has forced me to question the ethics of the methods used in past scientific discoveries. HeLa cells are an immortal cell line that has been a major tool used in biological discoveries; such as the vaccine for polio, discovery of genetic diseases, cloning, and HIV and cancer treatments. Although most of the general public rarely has heard of HeLa cells, they receive the benefits of the medical research HeLa cells have been instrumental in creating. Even those who know of HeLa cells most likely did not know they originated from a poor, black, uneducated woman named Henrietta Lacks, before the release of Skloot’s biography. Lacks had a fatal case of cervical cancer

Her family would later find out Henrietta was misdiagnosed. Henrietta went to John Hopkins for treatment due to it being the only hospital in her area who would treat African Americans. Many doctors during this time would use the public for research without the patient’s consent, and this happened to Henrietta. Without Henrietta’s permissions, a doctor treating Henrietta’s tumor proceeded to take tissue from her cancer tumors and her healthy cervical tissue. Her tissue ended up in Gey’s lab which were named HeLa. Two days later Henrietta’s cells began growing, and soon after Gey began giving samples of HeLa to his closest colleagues (Skloot 41). Henrietta never knew of her cells growing in the lab. Unfortunately, Henrietta’s cancer began to spread throughout her body. Treatment was not working for Henrietta, and she passed away October 4th, 1951 (Skloot 86). No one knew who Henrietta was for a long time, and she lost a lot of time of receiving credit for her cells. Henrietta’s cells ended up being sold for a profit by a manufacturer. Her family did not receive anything from Henrietta’s cells being used. Henrietta’s cells helped changed the medical world. Her cells were used for creating a polio vaccine and IVF. They also helped understand HPV, HIV, and AIDs. Henrietta’s cells have done a lot for cancer research. However, Henrietta’s family suffered deeply after her death, and

Before she died, a cancerous tumor was removed from her cervix (Freeman, 2016). While studying the samples collected from her biopsy, the first ever immortal cell line was discovered, which they also found to be the first cells to live outside of a human body (Biography, 2016). Her cells were labelled ‘HeLa’ cells, which derive from the first two letters of her first and last names, and were used to keep Henrietta anonymous (MedicineNet, 2016). These unique HeLa cells proved to be of immense value as it provided the field of medicine with a tool that led to the creation vaccines, cancer treatments and in vitro fertilisation among many other things (Dailey, 2017). Other than to diagnose her disease, Henrietta had never given consent for her cells to be used for further medical research. Her family was also never informed about the use of her cells until the early 1970s, neither were they compensated. Apparently “John Hopkins did not sell or profit from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells” (McDaniels, 2014). Although this may be true, HeLa cells and their products have been sold all over the world, earning millions of dollars (NPR, 2010). This raised a number of ethical issues, as the Lacks family was extremely poor and couldn’t afford health insurance or substantial education. Henrietta’s son stated that “My mother would be so proud that her cells saves lives…but she’d be so horrified that Johns Hopkins profited while her family to this day has no rights” (McDaniels, 2017). This situation sparked debates on whether Henrietta and her family should have been informed and compensated or not, and generally what the rights an individual has on his or her genetic material (Kroll,

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, was written about an African American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who had cervical cancer and then had her cells taken from her without consent. The author, Rebecca Skloot, thoroughly explained how the cells being taken, and Henrietta’s death, affected the lives of the Lacks’ family, along with why it affected them the way that it did. Henrietta was married to David “Day” Lacks and they had five children: Lawrence, Sonny, Zakariyya, Elsie, and Deborah. Rebecca Skloot had the most contact with Deborah, who wanted to know all about her mother and her sister, Elsie. In my opinion, the most significant part of the book was the unethical medical research that played a part in Henrietta’s

Prior to reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks I had heard of the HeLa cells and their contribution to medical research, but I had never really known where they had come from. In fact, I had never even associated the cells I heard about with an actual human being before reading this book. I found the book intriguing in the way it interweaves the story of the Lack’s family with the scientific history, racial politics, and medical ethics. Not only did I learned a lot about the science surrounding the HeLa cells and the nature of medical ethics, I also learned about Henrietta and her family. Learning about the Lack’s family along with how much the HeLa cells have contributed to science helps to humanize the story and make it more than a scientific history and a

This book kept me drawing conclusions and I could think of the good and bad too most of it. “But Henrietta’s cells weren’t early surveying, they were growing with mythological intensity…Soon, George told a few of his closest colleagues that he thought his ab might have grown the first immortal human cells. To which they replied, Can I have some? And George said yes” (40.5). Skloot gives an insight to the secret ‘deal’ between the doctors to emphasize her point, once again, that taking cells were okay at the time without consent from the patient. The audience sees and irony here as they read about Gey’s answer to his colleagues question, can I have some, as a yes. Even though Gey doesn’t own the cells, he is giving other people Henrietta’s cells as if it is his. Henrietta, herself, is not asked the question, before Gey took away her cells without asking her. “Not lont after Henrietta’s death, planning began for a HeLa factory- a massive operation that would grow to produce trillions of HeLa cells each week. It was built for one reason: to help stop polio”(93.1). This setting shows the inhumanity that had went on in the 1900’s. Henrietta’s death was considered to be nothing at all. Henrietta’s cells were the only ones that were welcomed and meaningful, who and where that they came from didn’t matter, HeLa cells were widely spread and praised for its immortality, but Henrietta was not. She probably lived through

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, was a nonfiction story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Henrietta did not know that her doctor took a sample of her cancer cells a few months before she died. “Henrietta cells that called HeLa were the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory” (Skloot 22). In fact, the cells from her cervix are the most important advances in medical research. Rebecca was interested to write this story because she was anxious with the story of HeLa cells. When she was in biology class, her professor named Donald Defler gave a lecture about cells. Defler tells the story about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells. However, the professor ended his

In addition, the scientist began carrying out research on the Lack’s children and they were not aware of the purpose of the research. During this time, HeLa cells were the most studied by researchers and scientist. Vaccines grown from her cells were used by doctors to inject both cancerous patients as well as healthy patients with the intention of testing them. Injecting healthy patients without certainty that the patient will not develop cancer is unethical and also many of these studies were done without patient’s knowledge. For instance, when Skloot describes Southam, a virologist who conducted studies on patient and lied to them about the study. He told his patients that he was testing their immune system without revealing anything regarding injecting the patients with cancerous cells. During that period, prisoners countrywide were employed for all types of studies and this included the HeLa’s cell study. In some studies, left them infected with deadly disease. The inability by the inmates to make informed consent makes that study on prisoners unethical and should be

Oftentimes, medical doctors performed operations or viral injections without the patient’s knowledge or consent. In Henrietta’s case, her cells were inadvertently taken from her after her death and were commercially sold to researchers around the world, all without the knowledge of her family. Through the story of Henrietta Lacks and her fellow African Americans, Skloot questions the lack of ethical guidelines present in the 1950s and the lengths to which medical research can go to find answers.

Henrietta Lacks is woman, whose cells have been used for 63 years after her death in 1951, and will continue to be used as long as they are continue to grow. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was born in the south, who married her cousin and moved up north. After giving birth to her last child, she finds that she has cancer. The doctors took a sample of her cancer cells without her permission, and now have millions of dollars but the family is still hasn’t received the money they are rightfully entitled to. Many of healthcare and entitlements that are around today, are due to the ill treatment of Henrietta and her family. Still to this day, there is very little known about Henrietta Lacks, even with the book out, and she has

Medical science has come a long way in the last 65 years. There have been many significant medical advances, including the development of the polio vaccine, the perfection of cell culturing techniques, the advent of medical commercialization, and progress towards understanding cancer and HIV. All of this -- and much, much more -- was made possible by one woman: Henrietta Lacks. She was an African American woman born in 1920, and by the time she died of cancer in 1951, she had made no direct contributions to the world of medicine. In fact, the thing that has since brought Henrietta’s name into the medical world was the very thing that ended up killing her. All of this was made possible by what doctors discovered inside of her tumor.

She did not want to tell anyone about her cancer mostly because of her on going dignity. Doctors were taking samples of her cervix yet she was not aware and she did not have much knowledge about the treatments she was given until one day “Henrietta asked her doctor when she'd be better so she could have another child. Until that moment, Henrietta knows that the treatments had left her infertile”. ( Skloot, 47) Reading this today people feel that what they did by taking her cells was not morally right, but in that time period, it was different than in today's society it was somewhat acceptable.

Henrietta Lacks: an unknown name up until recent years. A name that had been known to the world only as HeLa; The first two letters of a name that belonged to a poor African American tobacco farmer that unknowingly changed science and life as we know it today. Her life has finally been portrayed in a very intimate story that not only does her life some justice but also transcendentally brings to mind the philosophical issues concerning medical ethics both of the past, present, and the future. In a world of constantly evolving medical advancement, science is a pivotal force that propels ideas forward. Although most will agree that the knowledge and cures found are a positive aspect, there is also a necessary evil that is involved, including

The medical community did not explain to or inform the Lacks family of the HeLa cells; along the way the scientists altogether forgot that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. The family felt that this was unethical; they felt their mother was robbed and taken advantage of. Despite the spread of HeLa cells and the whirlwind of new research that followed, there were no recent news or stories about “the birth of the amazing HeLa cell line” (Skloot 58). In the beginning, when Gey had kept the origin of the cells- or Henrietta - a secret, no one knew where the cells had came from and no one cared to ask.