The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a well-thought of, touching and inspiring book. Each chapters are beautifully written, in a way that as a reader myself, feels as if I am indulge in a virtual reality trip along with Skloot. The characters are well-developed, and written in a way that allows the reader to relate and empathize with. Skloot is a meticulous writer that not only focus on the main lead, Henrietta Lacks, but also extends to Henrietta’s family. From the lives of the Lackes before Henrietta dies to the aftermath of her death and embracing the truth behind Hela cells, through each chapters, allow reader to witness the Lackes’ growth from time to time. At the same time, let the reader to fully understand the harsh reality behind

In the book, Skloot points out the irony of how this Black woman, Henrietta help save millions of people’s lives, including the Whites, with her cancer cells and helped white doctors into doing research for numerous diseases. Yet, the whites still treated the blacks unfairly. Whether in getting quality medical treatment, making rumours of Henrietta, or even disregard her identity, the unfair treatment of the blacks is stark. Skloot first talk about how in the 1950s, hospitals refused to treat black patients and only accepted to treat the whites. The only hospital that blacks could go at that time was the “Johns Hopkins Hospital”. Even in the hospital, despite free treatment, the patients were used to do research on as a “form of payment”. In the event of making rumours about Henrietta and disregard her identity, it started with George Gey, the doctor who used Henrietta cells for his research. As he refused to publicize her real name and instead, publicize her name as “Helen Lane”, the public made nasty remarks about her mysterious identity and spread rumours like how she was the mistress of Gey and even insulting her as a prostitute. Skloot also mentioned that the far distance relatives of the Lackes, whom were all whites, refused to acknowledge the black

What’s worse is that he gave the cells to many other researchers who sold them at exorbitant prices. She further explores on how other researchers use the Hela Cells to do experiment on animals and other human beings. Doctors also use a placebo method to do the experiments on patients, without telling them that the cells are cancerous. These unethical practice caused lawsuits, however, got shunned by the doctors insisting that what they were doing is right since the entire profession is doing it.
Though racial discrimination and unethical medical practices are the main themes of the book, Skloot actually also hints readers about some important concepts from medical sociology. One example would be how class position, social location, social practices and condition, discrimination and poverty proves the link with social determinants of health. In the book, Skloot mentioned that the Lackes are poor and