Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

Improved Essays
Kheloud Daelam
Ms. Ramsey
Engl. 1A
Class Time: 11:00-12:50 October, 2 2017
The HeLa Cells
In the book “ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” , by Rebecca Skloot told the story of the first immortals humans cells alive that was taking out of black woman without her knowledge. I was very impressed learning as I was reading how an individual cell's changed the medical industry, however in the same time I was very disappointed about the fact that researches violated ethics. Henrietta Lacks is African American woman who came from a poor background, that was diagnosed with a cervical cancer in her thirties in the 1950’s. Back then researchers and scientists did not know much about cancer and not enough tools to diagnose it. At Hopkins is where
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Skloot covered issues that African Americans faced due to their skin color, they were not treated as anyone else even at hospitals, when getting treatments. For example, Henrietta doctors did not take her case seriously, she would go back to them feeling the pain and they would send her home. Even one doctor wrote that she is doing well and there is nothing wrong with her, when in fact she was in pain and cancer was spreading throughout her body. Many African Americans were kidnapped and taking by which they called night doctors to abduct them to find new surgical techniques often without anesthesia. It is very disappointing that doctors were taking others lives, to saver another, that just does not make sense. Also many experiments and studies were done on them, such as drugs and other things to test if they are harmful for humans, as if scientists did not care about lives of African Americans they were using. In the book” The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” Rebecca Skloot, pointed out race discrimination when she stated “But several studies have shown that black patients were treated and hospitalized at later stages of their illnesses than white patients when hospitalized, they got fewer pain medications” (64). This shows proof of racial discrimination toward blacks, even at hospitals they were treated badly when even needing the same care as the white community. There was inequality even when …show more content…
Doctors, scientists, and experts violated human rights in the 1950’s mostly on African Americans. They would use people to do research and study on them without their knowledge and consent. According to skloot, doctors at hopkins were abducting blacks to sudy on them and night doctors would take them to do research on them, since the 1800’s hundred (165).. t Due to the lack of knowledge, patients never questioned doctors, which gave a chance for doctors to take advantage of people, by using them on their experience even though if it was harmful. For example, Hopkins were using people without their confirmation and approval in return of the free treatments and medications the hospital and the doctors provided to the patients. According to Skloot “like many doctors of this era, Telinde often used patients from the public ward for research usually without their knowledge”(29). This shows how the experts of Hopkins and other foundations were violating the rights of the individuals and risking people’s life. When scientists were using the patients, clients thought that they were examining their health, while they were harming them. Mostly, scientists were using African Americans more than white, without any empathy. Blacks are the once that suffered the most from that issue back then, and they were the victims of it. African Americans were the victims because they did not have the rights to speak for

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