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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

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Usually in life, it is best for anyone to take a step back to the past and look at the big picture. No one could flatter himself that he is immune to the changes around him. Moreover, with all the demands that life can put on a person, sometimes it is easy to lose the essence of “me”. By losing this essence, the person could develop either a better version or a worse version of himself. Looking back at the beginning of this year (freshman year), I have been just that young soul eager to meet life’s challenges especially culture changing challenges. Before taking the “University Studies” class, I thought that my knowledge will not increase anything at all. I was that person whose mind is based on chemistry, physics and biology knowledge. This …show more content…

This quote had changed my whole thinking. I learnt that I have to explore the ideas to get this real education which could remain with me during my whole life. Exploring some topics during the semester have developed some moral frameworks to my personality. “Sometimes a task can seem monumental when you try to visualize the entire thing, but if you break it down into smaller goals suddenly it can become manageable”. Before reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, I thought that it will be just a silly long story about a fictional woman, and there will be no benefit from reading it. However, reading this story was just like rewriting it for myself. Rewriting the moralities and ethics of this book to my own morals book. This book captured the attention of all researchers, educators, students and the general public. I did not imagine that I will shape a moral framework for my self from this story. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks revealed the ethical problems and complex social issues interlaced with HeLa cells and medical research more broadly: concerns of consent, privacy and compensation, among others. This book not only taught me these scientific ethics but also other critical problems which face the whole society in America. Some of the real significant issues in this case relate to a lack of respect for Ms. Lacks and her family, as well as justice, race and social class. Black people in America do not take their rights as human beings like Ms. Lacks and her family. They are treated as only slaves who have no rights to object to anything or say their opinion. This book highlights the racism problem and its danger which opened my mind to be aware when dealing with people. To conclude, this book did a lot to raise the awareness about ethical issues involved in Henrietta Lacks’

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During the 1950’s African American’s had a difficult time living in a world where they were seen to be lesser of a human being than what they were. They were treated differently in normal everyday lives as well as in the medical world. Henrietta Lacks was a woman who was greatly affected by this divide between whites and African-Americans. Because of the color of her skin, I believe she was not treated to the best of the doctor’s ability, and instead just used for indirect experimentation. In Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, she gives examples of how African-Americans were treated differently, a few of those include; the conditions of John Hopkins, the African-American medical experiments, and Hector Henry.

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Rebecca skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, spent almost a decade gathering research in order to display Henrietta Lacks’s true story in writing. Skloot first found out about Henrietta Lack’s in her science college course at the age of sixteen. After hearing a brief description of Henrietta, with very little information, Skloot had some questions for her professor. When Skloot’s professor did not have any answers for her regarding Henrietta, she decided to take it upon herself to find out everything she could about Henrietta and her family. Skloot dedicated her life to researching Henrietta and the Lack’s family when there was no information about them.

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The article “The End of the Henrietta Lacks Saga?” From the Smithsonian magazine was written by Rachel Nuwer in 2013. The Smithsonian is a magazine from the museum in Washington, D.C. Authors should use critical thinking when writing magazine articles, but some do not. Nuwer successfully informed readers about Lacks and what happened 1950 until now.

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Today we expect our pharmaceuticals to be able to help us through any illnesses that we may be feeling, Henrietta Lacks is the woman who unknowingly gave a piece of herself to aid mankind. Henrietta Lacks was just like you and me, but was born in a time where the world was still evolving in science as well as racial standards. She grew up poverty-stricken and led a life of it as well. In the 1920s on up African-Americans didn’t have the rights that we have today, and that is a major concept to understand throughout this book.

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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

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In her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot reveals how Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman diagnosed with cervical cancer, was exploited by the medical community for the development of the immortal “HeLa” cells that have since become the most widely used cells for medical research and advancement from the 20th century to the present day. The HeLa cells have since led to the formulation of the polio vaccination along with groundbreaking research on diseases such as AIDS, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and possible treatments for various forms of cancer in humans (Zielinski). However, this breach of medical ethics in regards to removing Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge or consent has led to questions

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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks starts in 1951 with a young woman of four. She told her close friends that she had “a knot inside me”. Her friends strongly encouraged her to go to the doctor, but she denied the advice. She kept this pain from her family so they wouldn’t worry about her, and then she became pregnant with her fifth child Joe. Shortly after she birthed Joe, she started experiencing external bleeding and stated she had a hard lump inside her womb.

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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

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The biography doesn’t only breach Henrietta's privacy, but also recites the story of how her cells were

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Despite the wrongdoings Henrietta Lacks was put through her cells did a lot to help advance science. Her cells helped develop different types of vaccines, which such as her daughter faced. A lot of good and bad came out of Henrietta’s

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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.

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Henrietta found out that she has cervical cancer. Doctors discovered Henrietta’s cells were very different than all other cells, the doctors called the cells HeLa. The scientific community and the media treat Henrietta and her family as abstractions through dehumanizing experiments, the use of Henrietta as a human interest piece, and the lack of information given to the Lacks family. The scientific community and the media treat Henrietta and her family as abstractions through dehumanizing experiments.

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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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The moral dilemma of the novel is the fact that “no one had told Henrietta that TeLinde was collecting samples” (Skloot 33). In addition, the cells were used, sold, and developed without the consent of Henrietta or informed consent of any family members. These cells, which were illegally obtained and the doctors “were sure Henrietta’s cells would die just like all the others,” that was not the case (Skloot 33). After her death, Henrietta’s cells “kept growing like nothing anyone had seen, doubling their numbers every twenty-four hours” and were coined as immortal (Skloot 40). The title might appear misleading because Henrietta is not immortal, her cells are.

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The first ethical theory is Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is based on actions that show right from wrong. In the story the Utilitarianism, is choosing which would benefit the most to the most people. This theory would conclude that it was the best choice to take Henrietta Lack’s cells and distribute them all over like they did in the story. The utilitarianism would benefit much more on the decision that the doctor made then a negative decision, which is based on consequences.

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