The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

Tissue Ownership

When I was younger I never really thought too much about my grandfather’s unsteady balance, notably small handwriting, mumbling or slurred words, and uncontrollable shaking. I used to think it was just because I was little and he was older; I never imagined my grandfather having a disease. Especially Parkinson’s, a complex and incurable disease that would attack his nervous system. Although, there are medications and other options to try and make Parkinson’s bearable, there’s still no cure for my grandfather. As I get older it makes me wonder, how important is medical advancement to society? This question was brought up in the novel written by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot questions the integrity

For instance, compensation for body parts could put medical advancement at a standstill for reason of patients and researchers involved in a continual argument over how much should be paid for body parts. Which in turn, cultivates new questions that people might not have answers for. Specifically, how much should body items be worth? Are non regenerable items worth more than items that are regenerable? If so, how much more? Finally, who should decide how much something like tissues is worth? Questions like these could take time to answer, time that scientific advancement doesn’t

However, some may disagree, “Dr. Hagiwara felt his family had an economic interest in the new cell line since he had proposed the project and his mother had provided the original cells” (Andrews). Stating that people’s body parts are apart of their personal property and need to be treated as so. That without the persons who donated the body parts there wouldn’t be any tissues or cells to help aid in research anyways. On the other hand, “Dr. Royston disagreed with Dr. Hagiwara, since he and his colleges had invented the procedure and created the parent cell line that made the production of human monoclonal antibodies possible” (Andrews). In the end, there will always be new and incurable diseases like that of my grandfather’s Parkinson’s. Which is why it is crucial that medical advancement never ceases and there are tissues and donors willing to help aid