• Home Page
  • How To Write An Essay On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

How To Write An Essay On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Decent Essays
Show More
I've been reading the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This book is about a black woman who died of a cervical cancer in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Doctors took a cell from her cervix without any consent of her or her family. Her cells are still alive today, growing and multiplying. After this event her family will never be the same. The family discovered it more than two decades later that part of Henrietta was still alive and has been used as a medical research. In that era black people didn't have the equal rights as white people did, and most of them didn't have money to pay the medical checkups and for that reason doctors use them as a research without let them know as the author states "Many scientist believed that since patients were treated for free …show more content…
Her cells were famous and the family didn't have any information about it. When the Lacks family discovered it was in the 1970 when doctors asked the family for a blood test, the family thought that they might have the same disease that kill Henrietta, but the real thing was that the doctors wanted to learn more about Henrietta cells and they wanted to use the family DNA. The family didn't know what was a cell or what was all this about that part of Henrietta was still alive and the doctors didn't explain to them. The family didn't have the capacity to understand, because they didn't know about science or medical issue. Also another problem that the family faced was that Henrietta medical record was published without their permission and the family didn't know how they got it. Also the family was angry to the doctors because they were selling and sold Henrietta cells and launch multibillion dollar of industry while her family couldn't effort for a medical care and nether get any money from this, that situation upset her sons so

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Ethics Of Henrietta Lacks
    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ethical Ethics Of Henrietta Lacks

    Sadly, Deborah Lacks died before her mother’s story was published and could be told to the world (Dahlgren & Duster, 2017). The Lack’s family has since shown great concern from other’s profiting from Henrietta’s life. Rebecca Skloot wrote a book and movie about Henrietta’s life entitled, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Skloot, 2010). Ms. Skloot used the book and movie profits to start the Henrietta Lacks Foundation in 2010. The foundation has been attributed to allowing several of Henrietta’s family members to attend college and even acquire degrees (The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, 2010).…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta's Cancerous Cells
    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta's Cancerous Cells

    In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebbeca Skoolt, who’s a journalist, was in college when she learns information about Henrietta Lacks, and African American woman, who died in 1951, from cervical cancer. Some years later, she heard about the name again and was so curious that she decided to do research on this woman. Rebecca later learns that Henrietta’s cancerous cells were the first to become the first human cell line, called HeLa. After doing some research Rebecca later learned that in the 21 century, HeLa made some of the most important discoveries. Even so, little was known about Henrietta Lacks…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Report
    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks Report

    It also raises a hot topic if it was right for them to use them should they have as the family. The book picks up in chapter three where Henrietta life goes, as usual, taking care of the kids and day is her husband. Until she receives the lab result which said ‘Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I’” (27). Richard Wesley Telinde was a top cervical cancer expert in the country he is well known for this clinical gynecology text books which are still used after sixty years later. Telinde had come on with a theory about cervical cancer that if he was correct he would be able to save the lives of many women.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Book Report
    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks Book Report

    “Why do they call her Helen Lane? What’s her actual name? Did she donate her cells?” Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, helped Rebecca find out the information about Mrs.…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Case
    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks Case

    After the cells had been removed, Lacks and her family did not know that some cancerous and non cancerous cells were sent out to be tested. Lacks' cancerous cells were then cultured and turned into the first immortal life. On October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks passed away not knowing about or reaping any benefits from the super cells that had been taken from her body. Years later, Lacks' family was still unaware of the medical significance of Henrietta's cells, no profit was received was received from them (Watson). Henrietta Lacks story is just one example of tissue use without consent.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Research Paper
    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

    This is also described in the book as being standard practice of the time and shows that despite the fact that she was in a segregated ward for treatment, her treatment was still equal to that of her white counterpart. Skloot also reveals that at the time of diagnosis, Henrietta’s cancer was misdiagnosed by her original doctor. She was originally…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks: An Analysis
    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks: An Analysis

    Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920, and died 31 years later in 1951. When researchers took samples of Henrietta 's cervix while she was still alive, they found that her cancer cells were growing 20 times faster than her normal cells. Scientists like George Gey wanted to find a way in which cancer cells could be fought. He sent Henrietta 's cells to other scientists who would be able to use it for research. HeLa cells were used to diagnose genetic diseases, fight polio, and create vaccines.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Essay On Henrietta Lacks
    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Essay On Henrietta Lacks

    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”.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The History Of Hela Cells
    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The History Of Hela Cells

    Henrietta Lacks was a 30- year - old black mother of five when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. She went to Johns Hopkins hospital to have the tumor looked at; they took a sample and sent her home. A few weeks later, when Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. was prepping Henrietta for treatment he took two samples from her one from the tumor and one from her healthy cervix. He never asked Henrietta if he could take these samples from her. Dr. Wharton Jr. took the samples down to Dr. Gey’s lab; he got excited but thought the cells would just die like all the rest.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Ethical Analysis
    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Ethical Analysis

    The actions that were taken didn't just affect Henrietta but her family as well especially her daughter Deborah. Henrietta's family didn't even find out about her cells till a few years later and they don't even have medical insurance, many said they should-be been given credit; "patients and, when appropriate, their families are informed about the outcomes of care, treatment, and services that have been provided including unanticipated outcomes. " Plus, they misdiagnosed her cancer since it was much more severe than…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, By Elie Wiesel
    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, By Elie Wiesel

    Keeping the family secluded from this kind of information means that they did not see her family as worthy of knowing; thus seeing them as a liability to the whole situation and as an abstraction. The media on the other hand did not keep very many secrets. In fact, they released some of Henrietta’s personal medical information to the public. On page 210 of the book it mentions a journalist, Michael Gold, and ac article that he published in a medical magazine. The article talks about the autopsy of the Henrietta in a disturbing…

    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Thesis
    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Thesis

    The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” dives into the story of an African-American woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer and died at a young age shortly after, leaving behind 5 children, a husband, and many cousins. When Henrietta was at John Hopkins being treated for her cancer, the doctors took a sliver of her tumor and cultured it to see if they could make the cell “immortal”. This all happened back in the 50’s when colored people weren’t seen as equal citizens to white people. Because of this, doctors withheld a lot of information, and they took the sliver from her without her consent and supposedly never told her about it. (Although there was one colleague who claimed that Gey did in fact tell Henrietta about the cells,…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Abstraction
    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Abstraction

    Had the information been given to the Lacks family from the start, many of the problems that arose could have been avoided entirely. Another way their level of education was used against them was when the HeLa cells began to be available worldwide. The Lacks family did not understand what was happening, and they believed that Henrietta herself was still alive. Neither the scientific community nor the media chose to inform them of the truth, and they got away with it because the Lacks family lacked the education to fully grasp what was happening with Henrietta’s cells around the world. In the end, their lack of education did not stop Deborah from pursuing, and eventually finding, the information she wanted to find about both her mother and her sister,…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Ethics Essay
    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks Ethics Essay

    Henrietta Lacks is a poor, middle school dropout, mother of five, African American woman who is forced to drive miles upon miles to get to Hopkins Hospital that provided free medical treatment (Skloot 33). During this point in history, all hospitals were segregated, and if any blacks wanted medical treatment they had to travel further for treatment. Also, African Americans were put in a bad economic spot, and most did not have the money for adequate health care. Therefore, Lacks did not have any other options other than to go to Hopkins, where they treated her poorly by taking a sample of her cervix without asking if this was acceptable (Skloot 33). Because Lacks was uneducated, the doctors did not feel the need to ask for permission because they did not believe she would understand what they were looking for or why they would do it.…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Literary Analysis
    • 1546 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Literary Analysis

    The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the story of a lower class, poor tobacco farmer, Henrietta Lacks who unknowingly has helped millions of people, after her death. Henrietta Lacks had discovered that a small “knot” in her stomach area, was actually cervical cancer, but the novel does not focus on her cancer, rather it focuses on her life, death, the issues her family faced with the medical field, and how her cells have saved the lives of millions of people. This novel is split into three individual sections, Life, Death, and Immortality, which all cover different aspects of Henrietta’s story. The first and second parts of this novel, Life and Death, are pretty similar to the novels and stories that we have read in class, especially Beloved.…

    • 1546 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings