The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in Science and Inquiry

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot

Start date: April 1, 2011

Finish date: May 1, 2011

Discussion: Book Club 2011

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Book Club 2011

September, 2011: The Blind Watchmaker
By David · 47 posts · 151 views

last updated Jun 21, 2018 05:08AM

April 2011 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By David · 32 posts · 163 views

last updated Feb 20, 2017 11:56PM

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Apr 15, 2011 David Rubenstein rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, history, ethics, audiobook

This is a fascinating story, very well told, about the efforts of a poor black family to come to grips with an ethical issue. Should tissues removed from your body by a doctor be used by scientists, without any form of compensation? This book begins with the life of Henrietta Lacks, and her illness, horrific suffering and death of cervical cancer at the age of 30. She left behind five children. It wasn't until 20 years later that her children learned that their mother's cells were very special-- This is a fascinating story, very well told, about the efforts of a poor black family to come to grips with an ethical issue. Should tissues removed from your body by a doctor be used by scientists, without any form of compensation? This book begins with the life of Henrietta Lacks, and her illness, horrific suffering and death of cervical cancer at the age of 30. She left behind five children. It wasn't until 20 years later that her children learned that their mother's cells were very special--they continued to live in medical laboratories around the world. They were being used for countless avenues of medical research, often with great success. For example, the use of her cells helped speed up the development of the polio vaccine enormously.

While Henrietta Lacks' cells were originally taken by a doctor at Johns Hopkins, and then sent to medical researchers without compensation, some of the recipients of the cells started to grow the cells and re-sell them at profit. Thousands of researchers were using the cell samples, before the family even knew about the extended lifetime of their mother's cells. This was all done completely legally--no laws were broken, and all of this could happen again today, without breaking any laws.

The question is, is this ethical? The Lacks family was desperately poor, and could not even afford to go to a doctor for themselves. Yet they decided not to sue the doctors or scientists. Instead, they preferred to get recognition for their mothers' contribution to science. To this day, it seems like Johns Hopkins has not given any official recognition to the contribution of Henrietta Lacks.

Much of this book is the story of the author's research into the story of Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells, and her strange relationship with Henrietta's daughter, Deborah Lacks. Deborah accompanied the author on a journey of research and discovery. Deborah had to deal with demons that persecuted her from time to time, and the climax of the story occurs when her cousin Gary help throw the demons onto the author.

By the way--I didn't read this book--I listened to it as an audiobook. It was read beautifully by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin. ...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Margie rated it really liked it

Shelves: biographies-memoirs, science

A quick read. Very interesting. Almost impossible to not feel frustrated and angry after reading. Raises interesting questions about the rights we have (or don't) over our body parts. ...more

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Jun 21, 2014 Alissa Thorne rated it really liked it

Shelves: genre-nonfiction, about-history, about-science, is-worth-reading, genre-historical-story

The fascinating story of HeLa, the first cells that scientists were able to grow outside of the human body, touching on the history of cell culture and the countless scientific breakthroughs that these cells have been responsible for. But who did these "immortal" cells come from? Rebecca Skloot aims to tell not only the story of the cells, but the story of Henriatta Lacks, and her family as they struggle to grapple with her death, then her subsequent apparent immortality in a world far removed f ...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, lwv-book-group

Riveting. Rebecca Skloot has told the story of one woman, Henrietta Lacks and her family. Tissue taken from Henrietta's cervical cancer has lived on and become the foundation of thousands of scientific studies. Through her amazing research and compassionate and clear story telling, Ms. Skloot has brought us an examination of race in the US, medical ethics and the legal issues surrounding human tissue research. ...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Amy rated it it was amazing

I have almost finished this one, and all I can say is "WOW". It is interesting from a scientific standpoint (which is what first attracted me), but it is also fascinating from an ethical and personal standpoint. It is just a great read. Recommended. ...more

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