Rebecca St. James

The three research issues raised by the research now known as the Tuskegee experiment included informed consent, justice, and do not harm. In 1932, the Public Health Service (PHS) doctors working with the Tuskegee Institute did a study to collect data on syphilis for justifying treatments for blacks. The un-ethically justified study went on for forty years before the advisory panel stopped it. In other words, the knowledge gained did not outweigh the risk posed to the subjects (Center for…

Henrietta Lacks, originally named as Loretta, was the daughter of Eliza and Johnny Pleasant. After her mother’s death, Henrietta went to go live with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks, in Clover, Virginia. Tommy was a small tobacco farmer who had already taken in some of his other grandchildren. Additionally, Tommy and other Lacks lived closely together and the small area where they lived had become known as Lacks Town. As a beautiful young girl, Henrietta attracted many boys, including her cousin…

talk about Henrietta. Eventually the family warms up to Rebecca and talk to her about their Henrietta. Rebecca got very close with Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah wanted to learn about her mother and help Rebecca, but some days she would be very paranoid that Rebecca was only trying to make money off of her and then the next day she was ready to go out and do more research, but Rebecca was always patient with her. Deborah helped Rebecca contact most Henrietta’s living family that could…

Skloot makes sure that none of the events shown in her book are her portrayals of each character. Their words are not interpreted or altered in any way and the voice of each character is raw and direct from the source. The characters are developed in two ways. From a third person point of view in which she describes the Lacks family’s past or by the direct dialogue between Skloot and the Lacks family. Also, the main rhetorical device to keep the rule of “show, don’t tell” is diction of the…

Throughout The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it is revealed that although science is helpful, it also has its own evils. Scientists stole people’s body parts, injected diseases, and did unnecessary treatments, all without patient consent. Henrietta Lacks was one of these unfortunate people. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Scientists then took those cells and started marketing them and doing experiments with them to come up with cures for various diseases. The family tells an…

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 highlight the suffering of Henrietta, logos to detail…

other cell cultures. HeLa cells moved from lab to lab, person to person. The media did not know who Henrietta Lacks was because they assumed her name was Helen Lane. Soon, the media and the people became interested in who Henrietta Lacks was. Rebecca Skloot learned about Henrietta Lacks when she was “sixteen and sitting in a community college biology class” (9). Unlike other media, Skloot was intrigued by the story of Henrietta Lacks and was also interested in the Lacks family. She…

first hand accounts that Henrietta would have wanted to help people, it is logical to assume she was also want some sort of monetary compensation for herself and her family. Because that never happened, Henrietta’s children still live in poverty. Rebecca Skloot, in her book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” put it this way when talking about Henrietta’s son, Sonny. “the last thing he remembered before falling unconscious under the anesthesia was a doctor standing over him saying his…

Life of Henrietta Lacks. The panel group discussed Chapters 12-16, seemed to have emphasis on unwritten consent, and how it is effective in current day, the suffering Henrietta Lacks endured alone, along with discussing the obstacles the author Rebecca Skloot had went through to find the true story of the HeLa cells. . Starting off on Chapter 12 ‘The Storm’ the discussion started off about whether the Lacks family was ever compensated and what amount or reward is owed to them. Questions…

tissue and cells from a deceased patient. Mary Kubicek removed tumor tissue from Henrietta at the request of Dr. Gey and the family had only given consent to perform an autopsy, not removal of the tissue. (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot). After receiving the cells from Dr. Jones, Dr. Gey named Henrietta’s cells “HeLa” in order to conceal the identity of the cells from her family as well as from the world, and claimed to receive the cells from a “Helen Lane”. Dr. Gey did…