Henrietta Lacks

Medical Ethics and the Abuse of Power In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, we see how medical professionals can abuse their power when treating patients. Henrietta Lacks was an underprivileged, African American woman with cervical cancer. While visiting her doctors for treatment, cancerous cells were taken from her, harvested, and distributed to labs all over the world without her knowledge. She was treated during the 1950s when racism was at its prime, causing her to be…

Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951), an unwitting source of first known human immortal cell line or HeLa cell line, and served a vital role in development of the polio vaccine, uncovered secrets of cancers, viruses, in vitro fertilization, and more. She being a poor and African-American had limited opportunities for her cancerous tumor treatment. Yet, the cells that were taken without her consent are still alive today in many biological companies throughout the world and contributed for all types of…

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot, Award-Winning Science Writer Harland Howell II 11/16/2017 Northeast Mississippi Community College Dr. Tabatha Perrigo (Psychology) Abstract Overall, medicinal research made an intriguing breakthrough over than 50 years ago by obtaining tissue samples and cells from a patient that changed the medical world drastically. Cancer of course was and still is an occurring issue today in society but prior to the past, there was more of an epidemic…

August 1 Henrietta Lacks is born to Eliza Lacks Pleasant and Johnny Pleasant (Skloot 18). 1924 October 28 Eliza dies and in doing so leaves her ten children with their father. Johnny splits his children up among relatives and Henrietta goes to live with her maternal grandfather, Tommy Lacks (Skloot 18, 121). 1934 Lawrence Lacks is born to Henrietta Lacks and David Lacks (Skloot 23). 1938 Elsie Lacks is born to Henrietta Lacks and David Lacks (Skloot 23). 1941 April 10 Henrietta and…

to a decision whose repercussions will literally last for an eternity. Such is the case with Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cell controversy, in which a group of scientists at John Hopkins University extracted cells from a young black woman named Henrietta Lacks without her knowledge and sold them to other scientists…

Poverty played a huge role in the Lacks family. Due to poverty, the majority of the Lacks family was uneducated, so for many years, the family was unable to take justice upon the people who decided to take Henrietta's cells without permission and turning it into a profitable business; since they knew very little about what was actually going on and what the HeLa cells meant for the rest of the world. Further expanding on the idea that since Henrietta's family was not educated enough due to…

Is it possible to live forever? To many, the idea of being immortal is preposterous. But many have debated that the cells of Henrietta Lacks are immortal, and thus so is she. Her cells have lived long after she passed away in 1951. The historical nonfiction book The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells of a African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks who died from cervical cancer. Throughout her sickness her visits to the doctor can best be described as skeptical. Living in…

1997 Documentary on Henrietta Lacks, “The Way of All Flesh” that was directed by Adam Curtis and produced by Joe Duplantier. This documentary highlights the importance of Henrietta Lack’s cells in the science community and how they impacted the research that was being done on cancer cells. Henrietta Lack’s was a female African American who suffered from cervical cancer. She was one of the patients being treated by Dr. Guy and unfortunately she ended up passing away. Once Henrietta passed away,…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, is a true story about a woman whose cells life on in many laboratories though she died over 50 years ago. In her mid-thirties, she developed cancer and passed away soon after. The hospital treated her and but in the end the toxicity of the disease growing inside her overcame her body. During an early stage of her cancer, unbeknownst to Henrietta, a sample of her cells were taken and research was conducted on them resulting in many…

Life of Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks was born as Loretta Pleasant in 1920 in Virginia. Her mother died when she was four years old, then her father took her and her siblings and moved them to Clover, Virginia where they lived with their grandfather. Henrietta lived with many of her cousins and worked the tobacco fields all day. She was really close with her cousin David “Day” Lacks. They ended up falling in love and having their first child when Henrietta was 14 years old. Henrietta and Day…