ipl-logo

Response To Rebecca Skloot´s The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

2023 Words9 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on henrietta lacks and ethics

I chose The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot as my midterm book for a number of reasons. I thought the topic was very interesting and it initiated a passionate response in me from the beginning. Before I opened the book, I could not imagine how someone could take another person’s cells without getting permission and not be punished. After reading this book, I have realized that there is more to this issue than just “stolen” cells. It also covers informed consent, financial compensation, and our rights to our cells. In the book, Skloot mentions that when she tells people Henrietta’s story, the first question they ask is if it was illegal for the doctors to take Henrietta’s cells without her knowledge (pg.315). I thought a …show more content…

The basis of their case is that Henrietta’s cells did so much for the medical field, yet they cannot afford health insurance. I can sort of see the rationale behind wanting compensation, but some of it does not make sense. First, Johns Hopkins Hospital is not who they should be hitting with a law suit. Dr. George Gey got the cells from Henrietta’s doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital and cultured them to see if they would grow, so Johns Hopkins Hospital did not make any money off of the cells. After he saw the cells would grow outside of the body, Gey just gave them to labs and researchers, so he did not make any money off of the cells. The Tuskegee Institute opened the first factory that mass produced the cells, but they were a non-profit. It was a long time after Henrietta’s death that anyone started making money off of her cells. If the family wanted to sue anyone, it would not be Johns Hopkins Hospital; it would be the institutions now mass producing the cells. Second, the fact that the family cannot afford health insurance is a separate matter and I do not think it has anything to do with Henrietta’s cells. As I stated previously, Henrietta’s cells were not the only samples taken by patients from Johns Hopkins Hospital or any hospital in the country for that …show more content…

These cells helped develop the polio vaccine and drugs to fight against a variety of diseases. They were used in gene mapping. They were the first cells cloned and used to create the first human-hybrid cells. These cells are used in nearly every form of research. Henrietta’s cells are invaluable. Without Henrietta’s cells, there is no way to know if we would have all of these advances in medicine and in science that we take for granted today. No matter where you stand on the controversial issues surrounding HeLa cells, I think we all would agree that we are very lucky to have

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

171 Words | 1 Pages

In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the author demonstrates the harsh realities that many African Americans faced in the medical and scientific field during the mid 20th century. The author shows the unjust practices of this time period through interviews with the Lacks family and medical professionals. These harsh realities are proven when Skloot talks to Henrietta’s family. Henrietta’s husband, Day, explains how they took samples from Henrietta’s body without consent when Skloot writes, “Day clenched his remaining three teeth. "I didn't sign no papers," he said.

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

244 Words | 1 Pages

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a novel written by Rebecca Skloot, a science reporter, depicting the lives of Henrietta Lacks’s family and their connection between them and Henrietta’s famous cancer cells “HeLa Cells”. Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 and was treated with radium and radiation therapy. During her treatment process, the tumor and other cancerous tissue that was removed from her body was sent George Gey's lab at Hopkins to be grown in test tubes all without Lacks’s consent or knowledge. The cells were successfully able to divide and give the scientific community a good supply of human cancer cells to experiment on. The Lacks’s family was never informed about the cells even when there were amazing

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

611 Words | 3 Pages

HeLa cells were taken from Henrietta unbeknownst to her by George Gey, a cell biologist at Johns Hopkins hospital, when she went in for a biopsy of the tumor growing inside of her. Today, those cells have been crucial in the development of the polio vaccine, aided scientists in learning more about the secrets of cancer, helped in cloning and gene mapping, and have ultimately, been sold by the billions. Even still, Henrietta was buried in an unmarked grave.

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Essay

672 Words | 3 Pages

The Fluidity of Henrietta Lacks. Gender Norms & Racial Bias in the study of the Modern “Henrietta Lacks” Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cancer cells were the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line will reproduce indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to present day. Lacks was the unwitting source of these cells from a tumor biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. in 1951. The cells were then cultured by George Otto Gey who created the cell line known as HeLa, which is still

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

520 Words | 3 Pages

Henrietta’s cells became the first to manage to live outside of the body in a culture created by Margaret, and these cells are still growing to this day. They have been packaged, shipped and sold countless times. The HeLa cells have made the biggest contribution to human kind in regards of medical research on cancer, polio, and many more viruses. There is a report of the insane experiments done to these cells, and since they are not a person, ethical limitations are nonexistent. HeLa opened the gates to

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Essay

535 Words | 3 Pages

Having the opportunity to discuss the impact of medical research performed on Henrietta Lacks’ cells with doctor George Guy would be an experience like no other. Through the use of Henrietta Lacks’s cells, George Guy created an industry that would fuel research throughout the scientific community. When Henrietta Lacks was admitted to the hospital for radiation treatments, doctors took samples of her cervical cancer cells. Henrietta was not informed that one of the two samples was sent to George Guy, a scientist researching the immortalization of human cells. Guy soon realized that these cells were able to grow outside of the human body, they even grew rapidly.

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

1629 Words | 7 Pages

The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot revolves around an African American woman who began life as a poor tobacco farmer, but soon after being diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 would unknowingly become one of the most important people in history. Unfortunately many would come to simply know her as “HeLa” the first “immortal” human cell line instead of another human being who had the right to know what doctors would soon do to her. She was strong woman and great mother to five unique children; Elsie, Lawrence, David (Sonny), Deborah, and finally Zakariyya (born Joe). The story itself tends to transition between the past and the present day. It gives us the story from both the perspective of Henrietta’s

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Discussion Questions

700 Words | 3 Pages

Participation Portfolio 1 Asst 3: Henrietta Lacks Discussion Questions   Please answers each of the following questions, and be prepared to discuss in class   1. Please outline the history of Henrietta Lacks 's tissue cells. Who did what with the cells, when, where and for what purpose? Who benefited, scientifically, medically, and monetarily?

Read More

Henrietta Skloot

823 Words | 4 Pages

From then on, she began seeing a doctor in John Hopkins hospital for check-ups and treatments for cervical cancer. During one of her treatments, a doctor took a sample of her “knot” and passed it on to another doctor in the building to test it. This doctor was named George Gey, and he was trying to make the first immortal human cell line. However, every time he tried, it just did not seem to work. When Gey’s assistants began to grow Henrietta 's cells, they expected them to just die.

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

1231 Words | 5 Pages

The big problem was if they had informed Henrietta and her family, what would happen if they said no to the use of her cells? As you learn when you are reading, when the researchers found out that these specific cells can do many beneficial things for the world they did not turn this chance down. In the book, it states, “TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists 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 . . . as Howard Jones once wrote, ‘Hopkins, with its large indigent black population, had no dearth of clinical material’ ”

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Violation Of Autonomy At Johns Hopkins

1435 Words | 6 Pages

After HeLa cells became widespread, industries like Microbiological Associates in Chapter 13 commercialized the production of HeLa and sold HeLa cells in the millions to scientists all over the world. However, no one at Microbiological Associates bothered to ask where HeLa cells are from and why none of the profits go anywhere else. Henrietta’s cells were used as a means to earn money for the company and a means for George Gey to be famous. Even her healthcare physician Dr. TeLinde used Henrietta as a means for expanding on his cervical cancer procedure of using radium. As Henrietta and her visit to Johns Hopkins was essentially her being used as a stepping stone for another person’s career, she was treated as a means to an end.

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Without Her Consent Essay

663 Words | 3 Pages

“Was It Illegal for Doctors to Take Cells from Henrietta Lacks Without her Consent?” How can you take cells from a human being and treat them as clothes that you’re just selling. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot told the story of the woman behind the famous cell line and the fact that her family did not know about Lacks’ immortal cells until more than 20 years after her death. Some believe it was legal to take Mrs. Lacks cells, while others disagree and say it’s illegal. It was definitely illegal for the doctors and scientist to take Henrietta’s cells without her consent.

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Thesis

1020 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Henrietta Lacks And Ethics

462 Words | 2 Pages

The final violation of ethical principles, in the story of Henrietta Lacks, was the violation of justice. Without the contribution of Henrietta’s cells, many discoveries and vaccines, such as the vaccine that conquered Polio, would not have made their pivotal breakthroughs in biomedical research. Her direct and unknowingly, supportive contribution helped save many people’s lives all over the world. Unfortunately, her named did not receive the recognition it deserved, and her family never received any compensation for profits made from direct use of her

Read More

Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

919 Words | 4 Pages

Scientists and doctors made great discoveries with the HeLa cells of Henrietta Lacks. The family of Henrietta Lacks had to live with the aftermath of decisions made by doctors and

Read More

More about Response To Rebecca Skloot´s The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Related Topics

Open Document