Henrietta Lacks

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…

Cells stolen from Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who died of cervical cancer during the first half of the twentieth century, led to dozens of groundbreaking medical discoveries. Despite this contribution, her family lives utterly destitute, her name forgotten by all but her most dedicated followers. Rebecca Skloot’s book attempts to correct this injustice, giving life to the woman many simply know as HeLa. Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks hammers the point home by using pathos to…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks will further the discussion formed with Days of Gold and consolidate students’ understanding of greed as a positive quality. This nonfiction story will also shift our discussion of money motivated greed to a new topic: personal status as a motive of greed. An important idea in the story is benevolent deception and the belief that doctors could legally keep many things secret from their patients especially if the patients were poor or a minority. Students will…

Skloot’s book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, combines investigative reporting and scientific research to expose the race, gender, socioeconomic status, and bioethical issues regarding HeLa cells. As the story unfolds, Henrietta Lacks, a poor black women, seeks treatment in 1951 for gynecological issues at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As A result, a few days later she receives the diagnosis of epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, stage I. Not long after, Henrietta had her first cancer…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Part One Life and is comprised of eleven chapters that jump in time periods. Henrietta’s story starts its 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital when she is seeking treatment for a knot she discovered. However, it took multiple follow-ups before doctors took her concern seriously and diagnosed her with cervical cancer. The following chapters explores who Henrietta was beyond her medical chart and the impact she had on the people that personally knew her. It is…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta Lacks is an African-American woman who developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer. Although she is treated for the cancer, the treatment is executed much later than if she had been a white woman. During her first operation to treat the cancer, the surgeon removed two pieces of tissue from her cervix to give to George Gey, the head of tissue research at Johns Hopkins. The story unfolded after Henrietta died months…

Henrietta Lacks was a woman who contributed to society and medicine in a way she could not fathom. She would never learn of her contributions and her family would not gain knowledge until after her death. (The Way of All Flesh by Adam Curtis). Doctor Gey, upon obtaining Henrietta 's tissue, violated the Respect for Persons that is part of the Basic Ethical Principals. It states that the individual should be treated as an autonomous person, and that those with impaired autonomy should be…

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…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’, a New York Times Bestseller written by Rebecca Skloot. A book through which several meaningful topics are addressed and brought to light, one of the most significant being, whether or not people should be given legal ownership of, and/or control of their tissues. It is my belief that people should have ownership rights over their own body and what is derived from it, after all if an individual doesn’t have rights over their own body what rights do they have…

During my first semester at ECC, my composition class studied the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” by Rebecca Skloot. The book was written based on a true story about Henrietta Lacks and the unethical treatment and research done on her by Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. Henrietta Lacks received radiation treatments for cancer, which charred the exterior of her body and eventually spread the disease throughout her body even more. At first the treatment worked as it dissipated the…