The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is work by Rebecca Skloot and accounts for the life of an African-American woman with the name Henrietta Lacks. The story is not fictional in any way and accounts for actual events that took place. Henrietta had cervical cancer. She was at the Hopkins Hospital as it was the only hospital during her time that could treat people of color. During the tests, doctors discovered that the cells had the unusual ability to stay alive, grow and even regenerate. Consequently, doctor harvested her cells and used to them create a line of cells that have revolutionized medicine. The fact that the doctors took cells from her body without her consent may cause one to view it to be unethical. This, however, is subject to debate since ethics vary from person to person.
Ethics refers to fighting for what is good or moral, and supporting concepts that advocate for doing the right thing. In the case of Henrietta, the cells that the doctors took for the study were the cancerous cells that were observing to study her problem. In fact, the discovery was accidental since the doctors were observing the cells for medical purposes. If the doctors deliberately took the cells from her own body cells, then this would be considered unethical and to some degree exploitation and violation of human rights (Skloot 9). The cells, however, that they were studying were the cancerous cells within her cervical tumor.
Rebecca Skloot’s book acknowledges and celebrates the life of Henrietta bringing to light the great discovery that doctors made through her body. The book may be considered somehow insensitive as it appears to be celebrating more, the cancerous tumor that lead to the death of Henrietta, than it acknowledges her as a person. The book sheds light on the immortal cell line that doctors harvested from the cancerous cells in her body in the year nineteen fifty one. The fact that Henrietta Lacks was of the black community, poor, and without education may have contributed to doctors using her cells without her consent (Skloot 28). At least, someone should have informed her of these activities. Informing her or asking her permission, however, may have lead to research never taking place. This would be a great loss to the world today as her cells have saved millions of lives. It is important for people to look at the bigger picture, as opposed to looking at it from a personal point of view.
The cells George Gey took from the tumor in Henrietta’s body he termed as immortal since they lived on, multiply and produced a cell line. Most average cells have a life span of just a few days after which they would die. This was a hindrance to scientific studies and research. George Gey named the cells from Henrietta HeLa in honor of the person from which they were in. Scientists thus used the cells in carrying out experiments and research on various sectors in medicine. The immortality of these cells made them very popular, and they spread throughout the world to various labs for research.
In the year nineteen seventy three, scientists wanted to study the genes of Henrietta’s descendants in order to have a better understanding of the HeLa cells (Skloot 15). It was at this time that the family of Ms. Lacks learns about the cells. This was obviously a shock to them to learn that their mother or grandmother’s cells used in a scientific experiment. Their reaction to this was not good as they found this news offensive. This ought not to be the case since the cells were helping to save lives and improve medicine. The most offensive thing to them was the fact that their mother was poor and struggled all her life and yet her cells were helping in experiments that had high financial profits.
If at all Mrs. Henrietta Lacks was aware of the experiments, then perhaps her last days would have been happy knowing that she has left a mark on the face of the earth (Skloot 24). On top of this, her children would receive something from the profits in one-way or the other. They also demanded rights or some degree of control over the cell use. The scientists, however, ignored the Lack’s for many years. The demand for these rights or to the legacy of the discoveries made by the Lacks family is unethical. In fact, the people that should demand rights would be the descendants of the doctors that studied these cells. The Lack’s family is to some degree wrong to demand some attention since Henrietta did not take part in the discovery. She was not responsible for the cervical cancer, which killed her, its strange behavior, or the discovery of the cells in the cancer.
The HeLa is the first if not the only immortal cell line from the human body that ever grew in culture. It has also greatly changed history in medicine through helping scientists discover cures for various diseases. Through HeLa, the vaccine for polio has saved millions of children all over the world. Moreover, treatments for influenza, herpes, hemophilia, leukemia, and Parkinson's disease have come about through research using the HeLa cells. Other discoveries thanks to this cell include the effects of atomic bombs on human cells, gene mapping, fertilization and cloning.
Works Cited
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York, NY : Broadway
Paperbacks, 2010.
