The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HIPAA, is a common term heard around health care today. HIPAA, a privacy rule to protect a person’s health information, is one of the first things that came to my mind when I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This book, written by Rebecca Skloot, was published in 2010, which was after HIPAA was enacted. The story of Henrietta Lacks starts long before HIPAA, and her name was leaked as the source of what became well-known as HeLa cells. HeLa cells are cancer cells that were removed from Henrietta’s cervix, and were subsequently utilized in research for numerous medical discoveries.
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.
In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was mentioned. Throughout Henrietta’s time of being sick with cervical cancer, she was not told she had the disease. Scientists took samples of Henrietta’s cells and brought them to the prestigious Tuskegee Institute for further study (Skloot pg. 23). It was at this same institute that the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was performed.
A long time ago things were worse with illnesses such as yellow fever. Today it's picked up better with vaccinations but stuck alone with nothing to hope for back then might of not been the finest option ? Mattie Cook a young girl in the book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson had dealt with things at the maximum , stuck alone with no hope. In 1793 a big out burst on yellow fever went around causing many to die and many others were very sick.
Robertson Davies, a Canadian novelist, once wrote, “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” We have the power to decipher between the images before us and convince ourselves that what we are seeing is truly what we make it out to be. In Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks with immortal cells. Henrietta’s cells were used for science and stirred up turbulent debates between scientists, doctors, politicians, civilians, and others. The ethical backing to the research and testing done with HeLa cells, the abbreviation for Henrietta’s immortal cells, was, and in some ways still is, the main topic concerning Henrietta’s cells.
The books, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, are exemplary models of an American family in poverty, and their journey and struggle to survive. They had to live off of what they had and they thought their lifestyles were normal until realizing others have it easier. Each of these families used different strategies in order to survive their insolvent circumstances and hardships. In Salvage the Bones, Esch and her family kept moving and giving each other strength to survive, during a devastating storm in which left them homeless. In The Glass Castle, even though the Walls family was in poverty and didn’t have a permanent home and were always moving.
Imagine walking down an empty, gloomy street deserted of people, engulfed with death, tingling with the sorrow for lost loved ones, and blanketed with the feeling of uneasiness and fear. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson describes this world that the protagonist, Matilda Cook, a fourteen-year-old, lives in during the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The book outlines her life and how her personality and feelings dramatically change during the few months of the fever. Towards the beginning of the book, she is lazy and does not enjoy working, but in a few months when the fever turns her life upside-down, she has to mature and work extremely hard to survive.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot is a national bestseller and is considered one of the most engaging pieces of nonfiction literature of all time. Through her own perspective, Skloot is able to give the reader insight on the life of Henrietta Lacks, both prior and during her battle against cervical cancer. In doing so, Skloot captures the corruption of the medical professionals in the 1950s, while also giving details of her personal account with the Lacks family. Overall, Skloot retells the story of Henrietta Lacks, while also incorporating central aspects such as violation of ethics, discrimination against minorities, corruption of medical professionals, and scientific advancements
In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, religious beliefs clash with science breakthroughs over HeLa cells. The Lacks family were religious however the author Rebecca Skloot is more in touch with science rather than religion. Although the Lacks family did not turn her away from science, they did open her eyes and inspire her to believe in something more than nothing. The family did not know much about science or HeLa cells, and the family was unsure about trusting Skloot because they believed she was going to betray them like the doctors did with the HeLa cells from Henrietta.
Your mother is stranded,your town has become a ghost town and pestilence is roaming . In 1793 the state of Philadelphia battled against a deadly enemy,deadly yellow fever . It took the lives of 5,000 citizens . Matilda’s story may have been fiction however for many people this was very real . In the novel “Fever 1793” by Laurie halse Anderson, Matilda finds herself struggling with the fever.
Sometimes bad things happen in an instant and all you can do is hope that everything will turn out okay. In the book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, Philadelphia experiences a sudden outbreak of yellow fever that affects Mattie in many ways and destroys the town she once knew. Before the plague Mattie worked in her family’s coffeehouse but dreamed of owning her own business in France but because of the raging epidemic, her life and thousands of people's lives change with over 5,000 deaths and constant struggles. Even through times of the worst hardships and suffering, Mattie Cook a young girl takes all of the extreme cases of murder, sickness, and death and turns them into life lessons and maturity.
When society thinks of the word “childhood,” they imagine it as a precious time for children to be in school and freely play, to grow and learn with the love and support from people dear to their hearts. It is also known to be a cherished period where children are to be innocent and live carefree from fear. However, in the context of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, childhood is viewed as a tough hardship that Jeannette and her siblings have overcame, and the memories they carry has greatly impacted their lives that it has molded them to who they are
In the book Glass Castle, Jeannette and her family don’t let all of the circumstances around them stop them from dreaming any smaller. Perseverance is the persistence of taking action, especially in spite of difficulties. Perseverance is overcoming the tough things in life, and not letting them get the best of you. In fact, for the most part, the Walls’ kids all worked a little harder to reach their goals. Lori, Jeanette, and Brian save up money so Lori can pursue her life outside of Welch, and move to New York City.
In the book Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, Lauren’s views on the world change throughout the book. When she goes from a safer life than others to living on the streets with no knowledge of what to do, she must reevaluate her beliefs. In the beginning of the book, she is very morally right, but towards the end she does what she must do to survive. As she lived more on the street, her views became more flexible, and she gained a deeper understanding of life on the street. Her views are also heavily influenced by outside forces that she grew up with.
Kidd uses the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah to demonstrate the theme that people’s lives are more complex than they appear. By using these characters, Kidd demonstrates how judgements are made about people based on their actions. People don’t always think about how a person really feels on the inside and they do not know about everything that goes on in their head. This is a theme that is significant to the world at any time period because everyone can relate to it. Therefore, the theme of this story is significant in people’s lives
