Summary Of Henrietta's Dance By Rebecca Skloot

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

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book written by Rebecca Skloot that touches on many important issues. Of the dozens of issues referenced in the book, the one that stands out the most to me is bioethics. Bioethics is “the study of the typically controversial ethical issues emerging from new situations and possibilities brought about by advances in biology and medicine.” Bioethics plays a huge role in the story of Henrietta Lacks.

Skloot’s “Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” documents of the story of Henrietta Lacks. The novel shares the story of how scientists collected cells from Lacks and created a human cell line that has continued to multiple indefinitely. Moreover, the cells of Henrietta Lack has enables discoveries and further research which has contributed to the fields of cancer research and gene mapping. The novel addresses the scientific story and exposes of the unethical practice of medical testing on African Americans; furthermore, Skloot bring the world of science, politics, and social justice to one common accord. A poor African American field worker, Henrietta Lacks died from cancer in 1951.

Before Skloot got to know the Lacks family there was little to no information about them because they had trust issues due to how were they were treated throughout past

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot is a medical biography that has forced me to question the ethics of the methods used in past scientific discoveries. HeLa cells are an immortal cell line that has been a major tool used in biological discoveries; such as the vaccine for polio, discovery of genetic diseases, cloning, and HIV and cancer treatments. Although most of the general public rarely has heard of HeLa cells, they receive the benefits of the medical research HeLa cells have been instrumental in creating. Even those who know of HeLa cells most likely did not know they originated from a poor, black, uneducated woman named Henrietta Lacks, before the release of Skloot’s biography. Lacks had a fatal case of cervical cancer

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, is a book about an African-American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who had cervical cancer in the early 1950s. Henrietta went to John Hopkins hospital, one of the only hospitals to treatment African-Americans, they derived part of her cancer cells from her cervix and tried to keep growing her cells for research to try and discover a cure for cervical cancer. They have tried this on many patients before, but Henrietta’s cells were special and kept growing, while the other patient’s cells would die. However, Henrietta Lacks and her family had no idea about the doctors taking her cells and medical records and sending them to other doctors around the world. In Skloot’s book there are many ethical

In the second section, Skloot tells the story of Henrietta’s death with quotes from multiple perspectives in order to establish her as a human, rather than just the origin of the HeLa cells. Chapters with historical context tell the story of cancer research when it first began to emerge, and begins to connect those events to Henrietta Lacks. In this section, the author’s research and interviews with the Lacks family are introduced much more often to start the transition from the topic of Henrietta’s life to the bigger picture, her importance to medical/scientific ethics. The final, and longest chapter concludes the book with the many legacies Henrietta left behind, not only for research, but also her family and humanitarian issues with ethics and

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot digs deep into the hidden details behind the life of an African American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who faced a long rode of unethical medical treatment after being diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 30. Before Skloot could uncover Henrietta’s past, she first had to gain the trust of the remaining family members and people who knew Henrietta due to them being poorly portrayed by workers in the medical field and the press multiple times. Skloot was not going to get the family to open up without them fully trusting her and her intentions. The book reflects on Henrietta’s childhood leading all the way up to her death. It also reflects on the unethical practices that were being held

“This story just got to be told! Praise the Lord, people got to know about Henrietta!” (73) is another example of this mode that further strengthens Skloot’s argument that most of Henrietta’s family and friends had no idea any of this was going on until they couldn’t do anything about

Skloot depicts the various laws and lawsuits made in terms of patient approval before taking further steps in any procedure. The Lacks’ family never knew about the cells until 25 years later due to the lack of consent. Furthermore, the Lacks’ family cannot afford health insurance to this day even after the HeLa cells. The family feels entitled to a share of the ample profits HeLa has made. The press also released Henrietta’s information and pictures without the family’s approval which disregarded the principle of patient confidentiality.

Ultimately, Skloot reveals more and more about the character of Lacks, her family, and the scientist involved in the situation through careful investigations and research. After her death, Henrietta’s children would go on to live with their aunt who was cruel and left them on bad paths in their lives. Never really recovering from the experience, they each went separate ways and dealt with emotional issues on their own, growing thicker skin and learning to fight for themselves. They would grow up to be bitter towards much of the white world and did not fully understand

In this passage, she criticized American medical society and culture as a whole by relaying accurate, relevant facts. According to Skloot, “there’s no record of Hopkins and Gey accepting money for HeLa cells, but many for-profit cell banks and biotech companies have… there [are] more than seventeen thousand patents involving HeLa cells” (194). In addition, up until the late 20th century, “scientists and journalists around the world continued to call [Henrietta] Helen Lane” (196). Skloot proved that the world had profited from Henrietta’s cells for decades without any credit or apology given to the nonconsenting donor, without anyone in Henrietta’s family being told of her exploitation. This again substantiated her purpose of narrating the real story of Henrietta, but beyond that, this supported Skloot’s objective of lambasting 21st century American medical society. When asserting these truths, Skloot had the purpose of holding the modern scientific community accountable for the actions of its predecessors and the intention of procuring reparations for the Lacks family. Therefore, Skloot knew there need be no analysis nor explanation accompanying these expositions; the facts spoke for themselves. The raw veracity of her words charged Henrietta’s doctors at John Hopkins- as well as the collective body of HeLa researchers- with malpractice and condemned them for allowing capitalist cruelty and ignorance to cloud their responsibility as medical

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote one of the most important documents in history, it basically broke us up with Britain. His reason of writing this document was to become free from England and he wasn’t the only one, he had thousands and thousands of men and women who wanted to become free from England. Thomas wrote many reason why the US wanted to break up with them and they were legit. The declaration of Independence supported the ideal of equality.

John Locke, Montesquieu, Jean Rousseau, and Voltaire were all philosophers that gave something to the western world. Through different writings made by these men, people were able to twist their works and make the ideas into their own. Many of these mens ideas were used to form parts of today’s U.S constitution and forms of government. Therefore, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire had an impact on the government in the western world. John Locke is the father of classical liberalism (Bio.com).

The effect the discovery and creation of the HeLa cells made on the science community and Henrietta’s family had a domino effect. Both had different opinions and beliefs on the matter; this led to some difficult questions asked of the family and of the medical community. Due to the new and advanced methods of experimentation, the HeLa cells made to to the field of science, the scientific community and the media failed to remember that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. Rebecca Skloot, however, took into account the Lack’s family, she inquired both the history of the HeLa cells as well as the Lacks family, treating them as actual people with inalienable rights.