Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Abby Howe October 4‚ 2012 Just imagine part of your body being taken away from you...scary right? That is exactly what happened to Henrietta Lacks. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot explains who Henrietta was‚ where she came from‚ the events that put her in the hospital and eventually killed her‚ and the legacy she has left in the world of science. Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant in Roanoke‚ Virginia on August
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Summary “In culture‚ cancer cells can go on dividing indefinitely‚ if they have a continual supply of nutrients‚ and thus are said to be “immortal.” A striking example is a cell line that has been reproducing in culture since 1951. (Cells of this line are called HeLa cells because their original source was a tumor removed from a woman named Henrietta Lacks” Rebecca Skloot‚ 2011‚ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was a beautiful‚ strong
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Compelling Aspects of Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Throughout my nineteen years of education‚ I have learned many lessons from the few books read‚ but none has caught my eye just from the title until now. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks brings readers back to the 1950’s by retracing to the popular cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks. This specific book‚ by Rebecca Skloot‚ brought tears to my eyes along with joy in my heart as this black woman dies of cancer while her cells
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“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” become attached to objects that are meaningful to them. It is noticed that a certain object had a significant meaning by analyzing the scene and the character. Dr. Geys assistant‚ Mary described Henrietta Lacks red nail polish on her toes. She described Henrietta being an actual woman‚ something Mary never thought of. Henrietta’s relatives described Henrietta with her red nail polish. The red nail polish was a meaningful object to Henrietta because it completed
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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
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Immortality Henrietta Lacks is‚ one of the greatest contributors medical science and research in the past century. Albeit‚ she never knew of her contribution. In fact‚ it took twenty years for her family to be informed about the extensive number of cells that had been produced‚ and that would continue to be produced‚ to further studies in the best medical interest of mankind. The ethics of this situation are hardly questionable and this is what “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca
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were still patients at Hopkins‚ making it easy to find them. He was a physician on staff therefore he had access to their contact information and medical records. After the conference‚ Henrietta’s husband David Lacks received a call Hopkins asking if they could draw
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African American History The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks Throughout history both African Americans and women had to fight to be treated not only equally but also even humanely. African Americans have endured being enslaved by people of white color‚ beaten hung‚ even shot. You would assume slavery to any human would be bad enough‚ but no it wasn’t. Women were discriminated against‚ all races. Women weren’t allowed to vote‚ participate in sports and sometimes not live independently. So what
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health care however‚ this is clearly not the case‚ as seen in Henrietta’s family. Day states that “If she was so important‚ why can’t we get health insurance?”‚ and given the ailments not only afflicting the Lacks family‚
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The “immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells a fascinating story of a sample of cells that forever changed the landscape of scientific research. The book tells the story of the family related to Henrietta Lacks. The book touches on the doctor and patient relationship. Henrietta Lacks cells (“also known as HeLa”) became involved in bringing informed consent to the research field. The patient didn’t always know what the doctor was doing to them. The doctor should always inform the subject of what
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