Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot: An Analysis

Rebecca Skloot’s, The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, resurrects the untold journey of HeLa cells and their source through the relaying research conducted by Skloot, effectively awakening the prevailing ethical issues associated with human experimentation and organ donation, which in essence reflects the bigotry and ongoing prejudice of African Americans during the 1950s. Skloot successfully crafts the novel, vigorously resuscitating the painful story of the Lacks’ through the several interviews she conducts. To begin with, for over 60 years, the cells of Henrietta Lacks have been the saviors of innumerable amounts of lives. Henrietta’s cells, commonly known as HeLa cells, were taken without her acknowledgment while being treated for cervical cancer. Dissimilar to
Thousands of lives would be saved. According to Santa Clara University’s Publications article Kidneys for Sale:
“Currently, prospects are grim for people in need of organ transplants. For every 100,00 transplant operations needed each year, only 10,000 are performed. Biomedical breakthroughs have greatly increased our capacity to perform successful transplants, increasing the demand for transplantable organs. But the supply of organs has not increased. Many people are simply reluctant to donate their bodily parts. In response to the shortage, proposals have come forth advocating the sale of non-vital human organs.” (Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. "Organ Selling and Transplants." Organ Selling and Transplants.)
In relation to the ongoing debate of whether organ sales should be legalized it must be recognized that benevolence best distributes by the respect and recognition given to civil liberty, and yet the deprivation of both presents itself in the case of organ sales with awfully adverse resulting