Consequences Of Different Perspectives On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot, however, used a different perspective in her portrayal of Lacks. This is evident in the way in which she conducted her research and the way she wrote the book. Skloot’s book, The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, included both the “scientific element concerns the origin and the subsequent uses of the HeLa cell line of cultured cancer cells” (Harper, 2011, p. 463) and the social and

After Henrietta’s death, her family heard about her cells. The information was confidential, but a researcher from The National Cancer Institute let the secret slip. Eventually, Scientists began asking the Lacks’ for permission to draw their blood for more tests. The doctors discovered that the HeLa cells had infiltrated various cell lines from across the world, and wanted to contain them for experiments. The Lacks family did not understand the labs and tests that were occurring.

In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Henrietta the purpose of the book is to tell the story of Henrietta Lacks, her illness, and how she completely changed medicine. The speaker is the author, Rebecca Skloot a prolific freelance writer. The audience is a wide variety of readers, since the book is extremely popular and is now often taught in schools and universities. The subject is Henrietta Lacks, a woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951. and HeLa, the line of cells taken from Henrietta that were the first line of cells to reproduce and survive in the lab indefinitely.

In the two and a half decades of research that was done on HeLa cells from the 1950s through mid-1970s, no thought was given regarding the family of the woman whose cells were being utilized in such diverse ways. Then things changed, due in part to a discovery regarding the invasiveness of the cells and the presence of an enzyme which is only found in certain gene pools. Because scientists wished to study the genetics of the Lack family, they contacted members to ask for blood samples, whereupon it was revealed that Henrietta’s cells were alive and well and being used for the greater good of the scientific community. The family then began to make their own inquires about what had been done with the cells from Henrietta, which were harvested without her consent.

The doctors at John Hopkins felt that it was okay to take Henrietta’s cells without telling her because they looked at it as her payment since she was attending the free clinic and not actually paying for her treatment. Henrietta’s family would not be informed about the cells the doctors took until after Henrietta’s death. The radium x ray treatment that Henrietta received worked temporarily, but she felt the cancer begin to grow again, and all she wanted was for the doctors to take her seriously and attempt to treat her again. Once the doctors finally agreed to reexamine Henrietta, they realized that tumor had grown and spread unimaginably and there was nothing they could do to help Henrietta. Mrs. Lacks died at the age of thirty one, leaving her husband, five children, and other family members behind. By accident, the Lack’s family found out that the researchers at Johns Hopkins took their mother’s cells, now called HeLa cells, and that they were sent all over the world for scientific

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of how the world famous HeLa cell line was created and the medical, legal, and cultural issues surrounding it all. This book doesn’t just cover how scientists used these cells to create life saving vaccines and treatments, it shows us the woman behind these extraordinary cells and what she and her family have went through. The woman behind these ever prevalent cells is Henrietta Lacks. At the time she was a poor, African

Rebecca Skloot is a writer who met the Lacks family whilst investigating the origins of HeLa Cells. She helped the Lacks family in order to win their trust and actually talk to them about their life with Henrietta while she could still breathe. Rebecca’s book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a story that tells about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks, life, death, and immortality.

The story of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells is one to remember. It is truly amazing how one person’s cancerous cells could impact science and the lives of so many. In the book sections of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, Rebbeca Skloot did a wonderful job portraying how Henerietta’s cells have had a positive affect on scientific studies. She described what HeLa cells have done and how studies with these cells have evolved over time. The movie “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” provided good insight on Henrietta’s family and described what they have been through since the passing of their mother.

Henrietta Lacks died never knowing the impact her life would have on the world of medicine. A poor, black woman living in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1950s, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer and died only nine short months after her diagnosis at the age of thirty-one. The mother of five children, Henrietta most likely died thinking her family would be her legacy. Little did she know her doctor at John Hopkins hospital, George Gey, had taken some of her cells before she died. With Henrietta’s cells, Dr. Gey was finally able to achieve a goal he had been working toward for decades – creating the first line of immortal cells (Freeman). These cells have been used for countless scientific research and have solidified Henrietta Lacks’ place

These cells have been crucial in scientific discoveries such as in vitro fertilization and development of the polio vaccine. Despite Lacks’s extensive contributions to the medical world, she is rarely credited for being the source of these amazing cells. Lacks’s family didn’t find out until many years after her death that HeLa cells were becoming an extreme source of wealth for many scientific researchers. Henrietta’s family resented the fact that they were unaware of and not rewarded for the work being done with Henrietta's cells and tried to avoid all researchers that tried to contact them about their mother, including Rebecca Skloot. Rebecca had to gain the trust and friendship of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter, before she was able to collect any information about Henrietta’s life

Rebecca Skloot’s, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” brings forth the story of a black woman, Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta was one of ten kids raised on a tobacco farm by her grandfather, Tommy Lacks, and married her half-brother David ‘Day’ Lacks. Before Henrietta died in 1951, doctors diagnosed her with cervical cancer and a malignant tumor at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the only hospital in the Baltimore area that accepted black patients. This story focused on how doctors at Johns Hopkins, particularly George Gey, the head of tissue-culture research at Johns Hopkins, took advantage of Henrietta. Before her death, doctors biopsied a portion of her cervical tumor and harvested the cancerous tissues. When researcher cultured these tissues, they discovered the cells had hearty, unusual qualities that allowed them to grow almost anywhere, with relative ease that was unheard of in the early stages of the field of cell production. Once researchers realized these qualities, people took steps to ensure her cells, called HeLa by researchers, could be purchased by anyone around the world. After her death, these cells were the backbone of many scientific discoveries around the world such as the vaccine for polio and the realization of HPV. However, Skloot questions whether or not these doctors ever had the right to take these cells from Henrietta without her permission, let alone sell them to researchers around the world. Rebecca Skloot analyzed the story of Henrietta’s HeLa cells,

widely known and used cell culture known as HeLa came to be. She also brought to light the story of Henrietta, her family, and multiple scientists involved with the research of these cells and the impact HeLa has on scientific research and the world. Within this story of HeLa’s legacy and Henrietta’s life, many people have partaken a role that was significant in order to put this book together. One of these people, whom without his help Rebecca may have never even met the Lacks family, is Roland Pattillo; one of George Gey’s (one of the first scientists to work with Henrietta Lacks' cells) (Skloot 77) students and a professor of gynecology at the Morehouse School of Medicine (Skloot 413).

Eventually, twenty years later, reality shedded light on the Lacks family when they finally learned the truth about Henrietta’s immortal cells. This discovery changed the Lacks' lives emotionally, socially, physically, and mentally. Specifically, Henrietta’s children, could have never prepared themselves for their own mother to transition from being a child at the “home house” to a famous, scientific headline called HeLa. Each child of Henrietta encountered separate emotions and actions towards Henrietta’s cells. The awareness of the HeLa cells arose when Bobbette Lacks went to her friend Gardenia's dinner party.

Before she died, a cancerous tumor was removed from her cervix (Freeman, 2016). While studying the samples collected from her biopsy, the first ever immortal cell line was discovered, which they also found to be the first cells to live outside of a human body (Biography, 2016). Her cells were labelled ‘HeLa’ cells, which derive from the first two letters of her first and last names, and were used to keep Henrietta anonymous (MedicineNet, 2016). These unique HeLa cells proved to be of immense value as it provided the field of medicine with a tool that led to the creation vaccines, cancer treatments and in vitro fertilisation among many other things (Dailey, 2017). Other than to diagnose her disease, Henrietta had never given consent for her cells to be used for further medical research. Her family was also never informed about the use of her cells until the early 1970s, neither were they compensated. Apparently “John Hopkins did not sell or profit from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells” (McDaniels, 2014). Although this may be true, HeLa cells and their products have been sold all over the world, earning millions of dollars (NPR, 2010). This raised a number of ethical issues, as the Lacks family was extremely poor and couldn’t afford health insurance or substantial education. Henrietta’s son stated that “My mother would be so proud that her cells saves lives…but she’d be so horrified that Johns Hopkins profited while her family to this day has no rights” (McDaniels, 2017). This situation sparked debates on whether Henrietta and her family should have been informed and compensated or not, and generally what the rights an individual has on his or her genetic material (Kroll,

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot, a college student learns about Henrietta Lacks, becomes infatuated with her life, and wants uncover the mystery behind the cells that made history. Henrietta Lacks is an African American woman who died of cervical cancer. During the time of her treatment, her cells were “stolen” from her, taken to a lab and grown to aid in scientific research. These cells were known to society as “HeLa cells”, which assisted with vaccine discoveries and helped scientist receive a better understanding of human life. Although HeLa cells played a significant role in human advancement, Henrietta Lacks and her family suffered tremendously. Henrietta did not give consent for her cells to be taken or used for research, which