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Review Of Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

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In the “Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, Rebecca Skloot discusses two main issues of the medical research in the 20th century America, which are pertinent to people all around the modern world: class difference, especially racism and ethics of medical research, especially non-observance of consent. Racism is frequently addressed in this reading. Between Henrietta’s house and John Hopkins hospital, there were many reputable medical centers but she was not allowed to visit any of these because they were set up for the treatment of whites. Even in John Hopkins, there was a separate, inferior ward for colored patients. Only because of being black, she was deprived of the standard medication facilities. Extensive racism has resulted in generic …show more content…

Professor Rahma stated in class that her graduate class only had 3 black students suggesting how less developed African Americans are. We studied in the “Cartography” course that redlining prevails in America, which means that there are separate residential areas for whites and colored with far expensive than usual houses for blacks in the region of whites, essentially restricting the access of some areas to a special class of people and creating a demarcation line based on ethnicity. Gulraiz khan, from his experience, told us that the white police used to socially harass black shop owners. This is neither Clover nor Turner Station, it is New York City. As a consequence, they closed their shops, sometimes …show more content…

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? Scientists were only interested in the remunerative HeLa cells irrespective of who it came

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Sasha Amos 07/27/2017 Rebecca Skloot tells a story on Loretta Pleasant also known as Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who had cervical cancer. Without her consent, her doctors took her cells and used them to create HeLa. The Lacks family had no knowledge of what Henrietta’s cells had done.

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248 Words | 1 Pages

Dr. George Otto Gey Rebecca Skloot writes in The Life of Henrietta Lacks, part two “Death” how she was able to contact the family and describes the medical research on HeLa cells. Rebecca Skloot has a hard time getting a hold of the family since trust is a big issue. To illustrate, since Henrietta Lacks cell are legendary in the medical and science community the Lacks family been bombarded with people trying to get information about Henrietta. Because of this, Rebecca, had to first gain the trust of the family before she will be able to talk to the family. Scientist and doctor used Henrietta’s cells on animals and people to study the effects of the cancer cells and gain new knowledge.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

As soon as Gey realized what he had discovered he ordered a large factory to be built to mass produce HeLa cells, its main purpose was to discover a cure for Polio (Skloot, Pg. 93), but not only did it provide aid in the medical world, but companies such as cosmetic corporations could test the effects of their makeup and other cosmetics on cell health (Skloot, Pg. 102). The possibilities of research with HeLa cell were endless, anything from the research on atomic radiations effect on cells and how to reverse the damage, to the discovery of cells being able to live on after the extraction of their nucleus, and even the vast amount of studies of chemotherapy drugs, hormones, vitamins, and environmental stress proved the importance of HeLa cells in modern research (Skloot, Pg. 102). For the first time ever, scientists were able to properly identify the correct number of chromosomes and map them out, this further lead to the ability of being able to diagnose diseases where individuals had an excess or lack of chromosomes such as Trisomy 21 or Klinefelter syndrome (Skloot, Pg. 100). The science world had finally found a way to overcome the expense and strenuous procedures to obtain cell subjects, scientist could test the effect of gravity, the pressure of deep sea diving by spinning the cells in a centrifuge (Skloot,

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729 Words | 3 Pages

First of all, Henrietta was an African American woman at the time when there was still inequality and segregation towards African Americans. This was really evident when she went in for her checkups at Hopkins and how she was never asked for her consent with her cell tissue. Also, the medical treatments at that time were not very safe or effective. An example would be when they used radium to try and treat her cervical cancer. Little did they know that radium destroys any cells it touches and it can also cause cancer.

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689 Words | 3 Pages

An example from the book of applied research is injecting these malignant cells into the arms of sick and healthy patients (Skloot, 2010). Another reason for the use of her cells is because the growth of living cells has been unsuccessful prior to receiving the HeLa cells. It could be the lack of mitosis happening in the cell, and the cells have not been able to reproduce, and create copies of themselves. This is another reason, why the doctors have been keeping a close observation of Henrietta’s children, even making up excuses to collect their blood, and keeping everything a secret. This is important to research because you can have a higher risk of getting a disease through your family’s genes.

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By using these cells, scientists succeed to prove Salk vaccine as effective which later helped to prevent the disease of polio. This is the reason why Skloot stated “Soon the New York Times would run pictures of black woman hunched over microscopes examining cells and black hands holding vials of HeLa”. (Skloot, 2010, p. 96) Also, HeLa cells proved to be more useful than normal cells in study of different viruses because they divided really fast. For that the author stated in the book, “HeLa was a workhorse: it was hardy, it was inexpensive, and it was everywhere”.

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449 Words | 2 Pages

Jade Sherwin May 14th, 2018 Essay test Rebecca Skloot’s book “The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells the story of Henrietta Lacks a young mother, a descendant of slaves, whose suffering changed the course of medical research and made life healthier for the rest of us. Henrietta was diagnosed with cancer in numerous ways the Lacks family’s right to privacy was violated. The Lacks family’s right to privacy was violated by people exposing the Lacks’s information “Newspapers and magazines “published articles about Henrietta , one of the pivotal figures in the crusade against cancer.”

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929 Words | 4 Pages

Not long after Henrietta’s round of radiation, she complained to her doctors, “that she thought the cancer was spreading, that she could feel in moving through her” and the doctors ignored her complaints (63). They told her nothing was wrong and sent her on her way. According to Skloot, that was common practice, especially during the segregation era. Patients did not question doctors because it was assumed doctors knew better and “black people didn’t question white people’s professional judgement” (63). It wasn’t until Henrietta’s forth visit in just a few weeks that they listened to her and took an X-ray of her abdomen that they found a large, inoperable

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419 Words | 2 Pages

In her nonfiction piece The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot explores the issue of patient compensation. Her intertwining of court cases, expert opinions from the medical community and examples like Ted Slavin. Skloot advocates for both ethical practice and scientific advancement in the medical field. Fully inform the patient this includes letting the patient know if they have unique tissues or what they are studying or testing for in the tissues. Have the patient sign a consent form when they are lucid.

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1150 Words | 5 Pages

Some family members still want to sue the people gaining money from HeLa, but others simply want people to see who Henrietta was (327-328). Deborah, Henrietta’s daughter, told Skloot, “Like I’m always telling my brothers, if you gonna go into history, you can’t do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was different. (276)” So many advances have been made in science and medicine that the majority of people on the Earth have been affected by HeLa cells at least on time in their lives.

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295 Words | 2 Pages

While the general terrain covered by Skloot has already been charted (by Washington and other journalists), the signal accomplishment of The Immortal Life is its excavation of hospital and medical records on Henrietta Lacks and its exhaustive interviews with her surviving family members. Skloot braids that compelling stream into a fluid accounting of the nascent history of cell research in America, creating in the end a riveting narrative that is wholly original. In short, we learn the stunning news that in 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a poor, undereducated 31-year-old black woman from a small Virginia outpost, unwittingly “donated” cancerous cells that eventually spawned a molecular cottage industry—and aided hundreds of breakthroughs in scientific

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743 Words | 3 Pages

Racism in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Imagine your mother, sister, wife, or cousin was diagnosed with cervical cancer and you believed the doctors were doing everything in their power to help her. Only later you discovered her cells were used for research without consent and she was not properly informed of the risks of her treatment due to her race. This story happened and is told by Rebecca Skloot in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot use of narrative and her writing style enhances the understanding of the story. Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital.

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1657 Words | 7 Pages

She was a poor, uneducated, colored female living in the 1950’s. Many medical professionals and scientists of the time believed that colored people were privileged to be receiving treatment; therefore, they should be allowed to extract, inject, and experiment on colored people in the name of science. The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment is a prime example of this sentiment. Additionally, many doctors did not believe it was important to justify themselves, because their poor, uneducated patients would not understand regardless. This sense of inferiority led to a lack of explanations from doctors and a lack of questions from patients.

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911 Words | 4 Pages

The purpose was to produce the first cells to live outside of the human body. Unlike the cells of others, Henrietta’s cells actually managed to survive outside of the human body, and are still living to this day. Henrietta was not given credit, or even notified or this. Henrietta Lack died without even knowing the impact her cells would have on the scientific community or the world. The initials HeLa were given to the cells, not acknowledging that they were from Henrietta at all.

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938 Words | 4 Pages

As a classification of social stratification, “people are ranked on the basis of achieved characteristics, such as merit, talent, ability, or past performance,” (Ferrante: 186). In all societies, no matter the difference in how they deem class, doctors are always placed at the top and are known to be well-respected in all communities. The doctors whom took Henrietta’s cells without permission did so because they ranked higher in class than she did. With their title as doctors and hers as a poor black woman, there was no reason to have her consent. Henrietta trusted the doctor because he was a doctor; that rank meant something in society, however this ignorance is what brought about the ongoing struggles the rest of the Lacks family were forced to deal with.

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