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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

1514 Words7 Pages

Throughout the Rebecca Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, she described her investigation into the life of Henrietta Lacks, her immortal cell line, the ethical violations surrounding her case, as well as the major contributions to modern medicine and research her case provided. During the time of Henrietta’s treatment, both medical and research ethics were quite different; many values such as autonomy, justice, and beneficence were not as enforced, and were applied differently throughout different institutions and individuals of different demographics. Though investigating her case and other important cases surrounding the use of HeLa cells, Skloot acknowledges the unethical circumstances which filled Henrietta’s case and …show more content…

Although I do feel that I am in some way biased from learning and practicing modern ethical principles, I can see the endless ways those surrounding her case took advantage of, violated, and disturbed the lives of both Henrietta and her family. However, for that time those ethical practices were normal for them; they thought were not explicitly hurting Henrietta by using her cells, and they were trying to use their research for good, unlike some research done by the Nazis for …show more content…

A point in the book that really made me recognize this was when Gey’s assistant was performing the sample collecting during Henrietta’s autopsy and she noticed Henrietta’s toenails and became ill remembering that she was a real human who meant something to many people: a wife, mother, sister, and friend. Another interesting observation from the piece is that many of the people working with and benefiting from Henrietta’s cells, did not even know the source of the cells: HeLa aka Henrietta Lacks. At some point in our lives most of us have benefited on some way from research only made possible by her cells, and I personally think that it is a shame that Henrietta’s case is not taught during primary education as I feel it is a crucial part of modern healthcare and history. It is crucial for patients to know their rights and know that they are protected in receiving care, therefore it is important that individuals have a common knowledge of

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