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Essay on henrietta lacks
Henrietta lacks essay paper
Essays on henrietta lacks
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Hannah Henriques ANT Dr. Voelker September 28, 2017 Henrietta Lacks Book Review In Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot documents the years surrounding her research of Henrietta Lacks, a woman known to most of the world as HeLa. Henrietta lived and died a poor tobacco farmer from the south, living and working on the same farm as her enslaved ancestors. But little did Henrietta know that her cells would change the course of medical research and history forever.
What is HeLa? Who is Henrietta Lacks? And how did this single woman change the entire perspective of the medical field? These questions will be answered in this following book report. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about Henrietta, who was born a poor tobacco farmer, whose cells were taken without her consent, but she quickly became one of the most important tools for the medical field, yet her name remained virtually unknown.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book that includes her biography, then her childhood to her tragic death; the story of her family over various decades; Skloot’s research and her relationship with the Lacks family, especially Deborah; and the story of the HeLa cells. Henrietta Lacks was known by scientists as HeLa was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951, and then became one of the most important tools in medicine. They were necessary for the development of the polio vaccine, cloning, and much more scientific developments. A doctor at Johns Hopkins took a piece of her tumor without her consent and then sent it down to scientists who been trying to grow tissues in culture for decades. Henrietta's
In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, the progression of the plot and its central conflicts can be thoroughly understood through the perspective of racism, which includes systemic injustice, medical abuse, cultural mistrust, and racial discrimination. Despite the widespread use of HeLa cells in research and the advancements in the field of medicine, there was no acknowledgment of Henrietta or her pivotal role in the public. The fact that Henrietta was not mentioned in the news and that Gey did not mention her name on TV further highlighted how her identity was erased from the story of HeLa, “Despite the spread of HeLa and the flurry of new research that followed, there were no news stories about the birth of the amazing
Despite being considered a blessing for science and the entire human race, what advantage did Henrietta’s cells provided her, her family and her race? The contribution of Henrietta dispensed no material benefits, not even any recognition or gratitude for her family. Instead, scientists and news reporters bombarded them with a series of inquiries. How ironic it is that the white scientists who considered Henrietta unworthy of living utilize her cells extensively in their research? How is it even conceivable that Henrietta’s cells became more popular than her?
Upon reading further on the development of the HeLa cells, it is thus possible that Henrietta 's cell couldn 't just grow at rates that were ordinary between the second and third visiting. However, readers can conclusively assert that Henrietta Lacks had not thoroughly treated and this can be attributed to the color of her skin. Even before people learn of HeLa Cells as well as the use of Henrietta’s tissue without their consent, they were shocked learning what they thought was true that African Americans were being
“‘HeLa cells were one of the most important things that happened to medicine on the last hundred years’” (4). The cells have done some incredible things and have made daily life what it is now. In the end, why should the demographics of the owner of the cells matter; It clearly did not affect the amazing things that the cells have created. If Henrietta found out what her cells had done for society, she would not be upset that the doctors took the cells without her consent. She would be pleased that they saved more lives than they have hurt; whether it be the lives of Caucasians or African Americans.
A poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks completely transformed the medical field. At the age of 30 she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Although this may have been a tragic time in her life, her death resulted in one of the biggest discoveries in medicine today. Henrietta made a huge impact on modern medicine through the use of her HeLa cells. Henrietta was born on August 18, 1920.
A main goal and component of this biography is to humanize Henrietta. Skloot aims to inform the reader about the woman behind the science; she is not Helen Lane or HeLa, but a woman who had a life and a family. Actions of the scientific community severely affected not only her, but the next generation of the Lacks family. Skloot goes on to describe her family background as well as giving an in-depth description of Henrietta herself. An element that Skloot especially emphasizes was how much Henrietta cared about her appearance: Henrietta spent hours taking care of those nails, touching up the chips and brushing on new coats of polish.
Gey and Dr. TeLinde, doctors at Johns Hopkins, received a letter from Roland H. Berg, a press officer, explaining how he planned to write an article about the woman behind HeLa cells. Dr. Gey replied “I have discussed the matter with Dr. TeLinde, and he has agreed to allow this material to be presented in a popular magazine article. We must, however, withhold the name of the patient” (Skloot 106). Johns Hopkins doctors wanted to withhold Henrietta’s personal life and records, so they gave the public a fake name, Helen Lane. Doctors and other medical professionals didn’t see Henrietta as a person, instead, they saw her as a cell line and her contributions to medical advancements.
Henrietta Lacks was a black tobacco farmer from the south who, in 1950, at the age of 30, she was diagnosed with aggressive cervical cancer. Lacks went to John’s Hopkins medical center for treatment for her cancer. In April of 1951, she underwent surgery to remove the larger tumor on her cervix. Henrietta Lacks, died three days following the surgery. Even though Henrietta Lacks died, her cells from the tumor have lived on and have made a major impact on the biomedical community.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks, aided by journalist Rebecca Skloot. Deborah wanted to learn about her mother, and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty and deep friendship between the unlikeliest people. There had been many books published about Henrietta’s cells, but nothing about Henrietta’s personality, experiences, feeling, life style etc.
Her doctor collected cancerous cells and healthy cells from her cervix and gave them to the cancer researcher, George Otto Gey, who was trying to keep cells alive for more than a couple days. Henrietta endured intense radium treatments, but she still died at the age of 31, leaving her husband and five children behind. An amazing discovery was made Henrietta’s cell were immortal. Racism is prevalent in this book through the limited availability of healthcare, unethical behaviors of the doctors, and how racism affected her family. During this time, there was an extensive lack of medical care for colored people.
In the book, Skloot points out the irony of how this Black woman, Henrietta help save millions of people’s lives, including the Whites, with her cancer cells and helped white doctors into doing research for numerous diseases. Yet, the whites still treated the blacks unfairly. Whether in getting quality medical treatment, making rumours of Henrietta, or even disregard her identity, the unfair treatment of the blacks is stark. Skloot first talk about how in the 1950s, hospitals refused to treat black patients and only accepted to treat the whites. The only hospital that blacks could go at that time was the “Johns Hopkins Hospital”.
Bushra Pirzada Professor Swann Engh-302 October 4th 2015 Rhetorical Analysis: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks who has her cervical cancer. It further goes to tell the audience how Henrietta altered medicine unknowingly. Henrietta Lacks was initially diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951; however, the doctors at John Hopkins took sample tissues from her cervix without her permission. The sample tissues taken from Henrietta’s cervix were used to conduct scientific research as well as to develop vaccines in the suture.