Argument Essay
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died, what if the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was published the same year she died instead of 1976? The people would have reacted very differently if publishing this book in 1951 because back in 1951, racism was a lot worse than it is now and in 1976, laws are also very different then in 1951, when HeLa was going on, they did not tell her family about it, they got no money for this because they didn’t know what was going on, most people only knew about the HeLa cells not about Henrietta’s life story.
In the article/blog White Coat Underground it states “Henrietta Lacks was treated at a time when medical ethics were quite different”. In 1951 and before Henrietta’s death, African Americans didn’t get all the treatment as “whites”. The dr. that took care of Henrietta, did not fill her or her family in on them using her cells and testing them, they didn’t tell them about HeLa. This is because she was African American. They didn’t care if her or her family wanted to know or not, they did not have the same rights as “whites”. …show more content…
Her story, the medical breakthroughs made possible by researchers using HeLa cells, and the issues raised by their use are the subject of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot”. Not many people knew about Henrietta as a person or her story, most people knew her because of HeLa and her cells. Her kids were always having people talk to them about her cells, they never asked for her story they couldn’t trust a lot of people because of it, so when Rebecca asked her Henrietta’s story they were not very open to trusting her at
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died, what if the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was published the same year she died instead of 1976? The people would have reacted very differently if publishing this book in 1951 because back in 1951, racism was a lot worse than it is now and in 1976, laws are also very different then in 1951, when HeLa was going on, they did not tell her family about it, they got no money for this because they didn’t know what was going on, most people only knew about the HeLa cells not about Henrietta’s life story.
In the article/blog White Coat Underground it states “Henrietta Lacks was treated at a time when medical ethics were quite different”. In 1951 and before Henrietta’s death, African Americans didn’t get all the treatment as “whites”. The dr. that took care of Henrietta, did not fill her or her family in on them using her cells and testing them, they didn’t tell them about HeLa. This is because she was African American. They didn’t care if her or her family wanted to know or not, they did not have the same rights as “whites”. …show more content…
Her story, the medical breakthroughs made possible by researchers using HeLa cells, and the issues raised by their use are the subject of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot”. Not many people knew about Henrietta as a person or her story, most people knew her because of HeLa and her cells. Her kids were always having people talk to them about her cells, they never asked for her story they couldn’t trust a lot of people because of it, so when Rebecca asked her Henrietta’s story they were not very open to trusting her at