Skloot states on page 130 of her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, that a doctor named Southam was withholding health information from patients. The reasoning behind Southam holding back the patient's health information is as followed. As Skloot says, “ The deception was for his benefit-- he was withholding information because patients might have refused to participate in his study if they’d known what he was injecting.” (Skloot 130) I believe with the information and/or the evidence given to me by Skloot that the rest of the excerpt is relevant and sufficient to support her claim.…
Henrietta Lacks is the main character in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Growing up in extreme poverty, Henrietta was a tobacco farmer and married her cousin David “Day” Lacks. They had 5 children before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Later, she died but her cells continued to live on. These cells lead to the important scientific discovery of “immortal” cells or cancer cells that continued to multiply. HeLa could grow practically anywhere and could fuse together with other cells creating plant and animal hybrids. These cells went on to invade other cultures and even caused millions of dollars in damage. In her family's mind, taking revenge for the doctors who took her cells without her permission. In her honor, October 11…
I agree that patients should have rights but personally I think that scientific advancement should be prioritized. Without the HeLa and Mo cells, cures would have taken longer to develop. Though it was wrong to keep it in secrecy, if Gey and his team had not taken the cells from Henrietta the world could be very different today. If they had informed Henrietta, she could have denied them taking her cells. In addition, Chakrabarty makes an argument for his patent about an engineered bacteria, where he states “patenting cell lines didn’t require informing or getting permission from the ‘cell donors’” on page 201. Finally, Christoph’s idea of cell ownership compared to oil strengthens the science/doctor’s side.…
This is the reason why Henrietta’s cells were immortal and kept growing. A documentary on HeLa cells and Henrietta’s contribution finally gave credit to the Lacks family. The family is still upset because they can’t even afford healthcare but their mothers cells are used everywhere. As Skloot was writing the book many people tried to prevent the family from even talking to her. Eventually Skloot gains Deborah’s trust. The stress of all that has happened in Deborah’s life causes her to become sick and she eventually has a stroke. Although The HeLa cells have led to many great contributions in the studies of viruses the book leaves the reader wondering how the family of Henrietta could have been treated so poorly considering Henrietta’s huge contribution. Henrietta’s case has also had monumental effects on laws about how patients are treated, because of Henrietta patients must give their consent rather than be tested on without their knowledge. Henrietta has had a huge role in science and for this along with her cells her contributions will live on…
With Henrietta Lacks’s cell’s, scientists were able to make vaccines, drugs etc. “Like guinea pigs and mice, Henrietta’s cells have become the standard laboratory workhorse” (4). Her cells have been on the moon, in nuclear bombs, and helped make the polio vaccine. What surprised me was that scientists didn’t even get permission from Henrietta or her family to use the cells, and yet, people have been getting richer and richer from them. While others are getting richer after using the cells of Henrietta Lacks, her family has not gotten a cent. Like Deborah (her daughter) said, “…if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can’t afford to see no doctor?”…
The story begins by vivid background info on how Henrietta came to realize that she was ill. It is evident that she is suffering from cervical tumor- a condition that is making her feel uncomfortable throughout her life. The effective foreshadowing allows us to forecast what is likely to happen. As the story progresses, we are able to understand what Henrietta really needs. From her childhood background we are able to know what she did for a job, her best friends and her family history. It is obvious that she led a good, respectable life. Chapter three is more related to the first chapter since it presents outcomes of events that transpired during Henrietta diagnosis. The chapter…
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a book with such an intriguing story that it could be mistaken for a work of fiction. Rebecca Skloot showcased her ability to entertain and inform readers with her literary work, telling of a black woman’s scientific subjugation in and throughout the 21st century. The opportunity to read and analyze “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” proved to be a valuable assignment in English 102.…
On February sixth, 1951 Henrietta Lacks, a black tobacco farmer from south Virginia, went to Johns Hopkins hospital to be treated for cervical cancer, she was treated by Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. He prepared her for her treatment and dilated her cervix, but before beginning the treatment he, without her permission, shaved two dime sized pieces of tissue one from her tumor and one from her healthy tissue then, he placed them in glass dishes. Those glass dishes were given to Dr. George Gey and his assistant, Mary Kubick, labeled them HeLa, because she combined the first two letters of Henrietta's first and last name. Dr. Gey, like many other scientist, had been trying to grow human cells outside of the body because it would help test the effects that medicine,…
Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 in Virginia. She was a young mother of five children, three boys and two girls. After giving birth to her fourth child- Deborah- she found out that she had a “knot in her womb” and went to Johns Hopkins hospital for treatment. Back then in the 1950s, Johns Hopkins hospital was one of a few hospitals in the country because they accepted to treat black patients and the poor without payments. However, they still separated between blacks and whites. Henrietta had to go to the colored wards and enter a colored-only exam room. Her blood was labeled as colored before they stored it. In the end, when she died, her body was stored in a colored freezer. Doctor Howard Jones was…
In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot, Skloot is a young white woman that becomes fascinated by Henrietta Lacks when she learns of her in a community college biology class. Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman who was never spoken of. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of thirty. When she received treatment for that cancer doctors unknowingly stole her cervical cells. These cells were named HeLa. In Skloots book she states, “Scientists had been trying to keep human cells alive in culture for decades, but they all eventually died. Henrietta’s were different: they reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and they never stopped. They…
Hopkins, its doctors, and researchers never thought about whether or not her cells were taken with consent or contacting her family. “ Years later, when I asked McKusick if anyone had tried to get informed consent from the Lacks family, he said, “I suspect there was no effort to explain anything in great detail.” But someone should have explained everything to them and made them aware of what was going on. Even after Henrietta’s cells were taken without consent the Lacks family deserved to know was happening with Henrietta’s cells. Susan Hsu who worked with McKusick later stated that she felt very bad because at the time no one thought that the Lacks family would not understand.…
She was forced to drive all the way to the hospital because it was the only one in the area who treated black patients. The hospital sometimes felt that because they were not receiving any compensation for their work, that they would just take samples from patients without their written consent. Henrietta’s case was one of these occurrences. The Lacks family was not even made aware of the cells until 20 years after her death and while others were making millions off them, the family saw none of the profits. They were denied access to information about the cells because of their race and because the hospital knew that what they were doing was…
One of the main themes in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is justice. I feel this is so because Henrietta along with her family were not well-aware that Henrietta's cells were being taken from her without her consent to use in scientific research while she was only seeking help for her unknown illness. Alongside being unaware, she was never fully recognized for her unknown contributions to the scientific research that involved her cells. The fact that someone who has things taken from them and they are unaware of it is huge injustice to anyone.…
In chapter eleven, we see the human death of Henrietta. Henrietta’s cousin, Emmett visited Henrietta when he heard that she was in the hospital. The first thing that he noticed was the straps around her wrists and ankles. When Henrietta convulsed, Emmett described it as “she had been possessed by the devil of pain itself.” This goes back to the religiousness in the previous chapter. The last thing that the book has record of Henrietta saying is “Don’t you let anything bad happen to them children when I’m gone.” In a sense it seems as she would be watching through her cells and living on through her cells to make sure that her children are…
Cootie thinks Henrietta’s cancer came from spirits or the doctor did it because he does not believe cancer keeps growing after a person die.…