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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

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In today’s world people are endowed to full rights when it comes to their medical wellbeing. When seeking medical care from physicians and professionals we expect a full explanation of our health and possible treatment plans. It is even law that we provide informed consent before proceeding with care. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot is a thought provoking novel that takes a close and personal look at the story of Henrietta Lacks and her family. She is an African American woman whose cells were used for the advancement of medicine, all without her knowing. The novel delves into the ethical implications of using human tissue for scientific research and raises questions about informed consent and ownership of biological …show more content…

While receiving treatment for her tumor, doctors decided to take samples without her knowledge. They found her cells to be quite extraordinary, that they contain a special enzyme that no one else has ever had. The cells do not die, they became the first immortal human cell line to grow in culture, they are known as HeLa cells. Henrietta’s cells had been used so much in research that it is estimated that there were over 50 million metric tons in the world at the time when Skloot was writing the novel. With her cells gaining popularity and recognition in the medical research field the Lacks family had no knowledge of this at all. It was not until years later when researchers reached out to the family for blood samples to compare their DNA to that of HeLa cells. This caused a deeper distrust of doctors and medical professionals for the Lackses. Especially Henrietta’s two youngest children, Deborah and ZaKariyya Lacks, who grew up without their mother and know who she was. Skloot unearths the history of cell research and the wrongdoings of scientists by telling the story of the Lacks family and HeLa cells. She promises the family full transparency in writing the novel and provides them with closure when discovering information about their

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HeLa was an immortal line of cells that led to many scientific discoveries. The book “The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” has many different points you can view from. The book shows how history changed over time, how being African American and poor gets you no rights to privacy, and most importantly how medicine advanced because of Henrietta’s cells. Henrietta was one of ten children. Her mother died while giving birth in a barn.

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When removed during her biopsy and then cultured without her permission, her cells began to reproduce rapidly and require more and more culture medium to consume as they grew. They thrived in the lab and they were the first human cells ever in history to do so. Meanwhile, Henrietta, 31, African-American, and a mother of five, continued enduring painful and damaging radiation treatment in the hospital’s “colored only” ward. After Henrietta’s death, her cells, named HeLa after the first two letters of both her names, went on to become a celebrity of virology, benefiting more people than will ever be truly realized. Scientists have grown about 50 million metric tons of her cells, helped sustain and build thousands of careers, and tens of thousands of scientific

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The HeLa cells not only survived, they grew intensely and kept right on growing as much as their given space would allow. It seemed like the cells would never stop growing, thus came the label of the immortal cells (Skloot, 2010). HeLa cells became a very important part of scientific research, and Henrietta’s name became well-known among Gey’s colleagues. On November 2, 1953, the real name behind the HeLa cells was leaked by the press, but they got it wrong, Henrietta Lakes was reported as the source of the cells in the Minneapolis Star. Gey and Dr. TeLinde, the cervical cancer specialist at John Hopkins, decided to allow their story about Henrietta to be told in a more accurate account, but they wanted to withhold her name.

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After eight months of treatment and excruciating pain from the tumors that kept appearing everywhere, Henrietta passed away. During that time scientists were developing a factory to mass produce her cells. As new developments with her cells kept occurring, her family was oblivious to it all until one day when Bobette, Henrietta's daughter in-law, ran into someone who shed some light on the subject. A brother of a friend unveiled how Bobette’s mother in-law’s cells were in his lab right now being tested for different things. Bobette then told the family which made Deborah, Henrietta’s daughter ver curious and worried about what they were doing.

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In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot goes on a lengthy journey in order to uncover the past of one of the greatest advances in medical history. Through the process she discovered that there was more to the story than just one woman, and this would lead her on an international adventure to discover the truth. Throughout the book many issues are present, many of them are quite severe, these issues include abuse and racial issues. To begin, there are multiple forms of abuse that are present in the book, and these include types of abuse such as physical, emotional, sexual and even abuse of power. Deborah Lacks Was abused at a young age by a woman named Ethel.

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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

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These cells, however, turned out to be unique in that they were able to grow and multiply outside the human body, making them invaluable in medical research. The movie follows the journey of journalist Rebecca Skloot, as she investigates the story of Henrietta Lacks and her "immortal" cells. Skloot travels to Baltimore to interview Henrietta's family and learn more about her life and legacy. She uncovers a complex and often painful history that sheds light on issues of race, class, and medical

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Shortly after this happened Henrietta died from the cervical cancer on October 4, 1951. It wasn’t until two decades later that Henriettas name was released to the press, and it wasn’t until even later in the 1990’s when Rebecca Skloot heard of HeLa cells and was interested why there was so little information about her. Skloot then comes into contact with Henriettas family and most importantly forms a bond with Deborah, Henrietta’s oldest daughter. This bond with Deborah was crucial to find out information of Henrietta. While researching the bond grows and Skloot realizes that Deborah just wants to learn as much as possible about her mother like she wants too (Skloot Deborah really just wants her mother’s story to be told and people to realize that there is a person behind all the

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TIC673 HeLa Assignment 2018 In one of the best seller novel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” the author Rebecca Skloot describes about the first human immortal cells that lived in laboratory culture and about the story of black, 31-year-old woman from whom these cells were obtained. The cells which not only proved to be most important in the field of medicine but also brought medical revolution were obtained from her without her or her family’s knowledge leading to the most debatable ethical issues. The following essay would describe the cell’s contribution to science, how they were obtained and some of the ethical issues violated. Henrietta’s cells did much good for the society.

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After leaving the hospital, she went back to life as usual.” (Skloot 42) The issue of racial inequality in the medical field is further demonstrated by Henrietta’s cells being used to create a multi-billion dollar industry while her family never received any compensation. Even though HeLa cells were used in multiple scientific advancements, such as creating the polio vaccine, Henrietta’s family was still left in

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The Lacks family had reporters and researchers approach them before, but none of them treated them the way Skloot did. Skloot, who learned about HeLa cells in highschool, was interested in the history and background of Henrietta, rather than the scientific facts. Although she was repeatedly rejected by the now cautious and paranoid Lacks family, who, at first, only saw her as a greedy reporter coming to bring even more upheaval into the family’s lives, Skloot was finally able to build a relationship with the family, namely Deborah, and invested into their lives, all the while writing the novel that would finally bring Henrietta’s story to light. Skloot had a different approach than the scientific community and media because she didn’t see Henrietta as an abstraction, but as an “universe with its own secrets,” which she so willingly shared with the

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Skloot's attitude toward the subject is revealed through her word choice. The chapter, "Illegal, Immoral, and Deplorable" from Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, states "He told them he was testing their immune systems; he said nothing about injecting them with someone else's malignant cells. " Skloot's choice of the word 'malignant' shows that she feels that Southam is harming innocent people. At first, the audience might feel that Southam is using safe cells to help the patients. The word choice helps the reader understand that the cells Southam is using on his patients are in fact not obliging.

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Skloot brings attention to the lack of informed consent and the exploitation of marginalized populations in medical research. The story of Henrietta Lacks and her HeLa cells illustrates the ways in which individuals can be reduced to mere resources for scientific progress, without proper acknowledgement or compensation for their contributions. Skloot's book also highlights the importance of acknowledging the humanity and dignity of individuals who have been used for medical research. This is particularly relevant when dealing with marginalized communities, who have historically been exploited and mistreated in medical research. By bringing these issues to light, Skloot raises important questions about the responsibility of the medical community to prioritize the well-being and dignity of all individuals.

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She was pregnant by her 5th child. after the birth of her child she could still feel something there so she went back to Hopkins where she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. There was a tumor on her abdominal. Without consent Dr.Hopkins scraped off some of the tumor and her healthy muscle . Dr.Hopkins later sent it to Dr.Gey a cell cultist who cultured Henrietta's cells which he named HeLa .

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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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