“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” has been a most interesting read. As I mentioned in my two previous posts, each of the three sections seemed to me to have a certain underlying theme that reached far beyond their simple titles (“Life,” “Death,” and “Immortality”). While the first section began to introduce the concept that science—and specifically the field of medicine—is certainly flawed, the second delved right into specific examples of uncountable injustices and thorny ethical dilemmas. The final section, however, focused less on science and more on the human element of the Henrietta Lacks story—an element that I particularly enjoyed reading. In my opinion, “Immortality” especially emphasized the theme of knowledge versus ignorance.
I’ve grown so accustomed to reading books for English-class purposes that I now find myself picking out literary themes in almost every novel that I encounter, so bear with me if this seems a bit far-fetched. I feel that in this final section, however, the author constantly emphasizes the pain and suffering the Lacks family went through. The root of this suffering isn’t necessarily presented as the widespread use of HeLa cells or even the fact that the family isn’t receiving its share of the profits; the root of their suffering, rather, comes from their ignorance.
We see numerous examples of this in the text. For example, Deborah is constantly wracked with fear and anxiety over the plight of her mother and sister; so much so that she becomes seriously ill. In her sister’s case, the simple unknown—a form of ignorance in itself—is to blame. Deborah suffered her entire life because she was so desperate to know what became of Elsie, and she is only able to feel relief once she visits what was once Crownsville Hospital for the Negro Insane and learns about Elsie’s horrible death (pg 268). To Deborah, having this knowledge is far better than being left in the dark. The same can be said about Deborah’s obsession with her mother’s cells. Almost every member of the Lacks family would be considered uneducated by today’s standards, and their inability to understand the use of their mother’s cells made their plight exponentially worse. Throughout the story, we see countless examples of science terrifying Deborah. For example, when she hears that her mother’s cells have been crossed with plant cells, Deborah believes that her mother has been made into a half-human, half-plant monster (pg 196) and that the clones of her cells made by London scientists were actually living clones of her mother (pg 237). Only when Deborah has the truth explained to her by Rebecca Skloot in very nonscientific terms does she finally come to peace with the existence of her mother’s cells. Deborah even directly states the importance of knowledge when she says, “Education is everything…if I’d had more of it, maybe this whole thing about my mother wouldn’t have been so hard” (pgs 251-252). Throughout the duration of the book, Deborah only panics when she feels that she does not understand.
Deborah’s story is only one example; the plight of every member of the Lacks family changes as they begin to understand the use of Henrietta’s cells and their contributions to science. Perhaps the most profound example is that of Zakariyya, who remains incredibly bitter about his mother throughout his life and is only prompted to change when Christoph Lengauer of Hopkins shows him her cells. Only then do we see the first hint of kindness in Zakariyya (pg 267).
I don’t mean to undermine the wrongs done to the Lacks family, and in no way suggest that the doctors who finally took the time to explain what had happened to their mother rectified these injustices. I merely wish to suggest that if even one person had bothered to help educate the Lacks family sooner, perhaps their plight wouldn’t have been nearly as bad.
Andrea's statement, "'Immortality' especially emphasized the theme of knowledge versus ignorance," mirrored exactly my understanding of the final section of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." The theme of Henrietta's family's ignorance begins immediately when Bobbette is absolutely shocked to hear from Gardenia's brother-in-law that "part of Henrietta [is] alive." (180) After 25 years, someone (still not the original researchers) finally reveals to a member of Henrietta's family that her cells are being cultured and "ordered from suppliers" (180) all over the country. This injustice and failure to receive consent is finally revealed to the Lacks family, however, they are still oblivious. Lawrence calls the operator at Hopkins, telling them that they have part of his mother alive, but hangs up when the operator finds no one with her name on record. "Lawrence hung up and didn't know who else to call." (181)
Someone please explain to this family what is going on! Uneducated, they have no idea what it means when told that her cells are being multiplied. Finally, after years and years of darkness, the family is being enlightened, but still no one has taken the time to completely fill them in.
Researchers finally decide to speak with the Lacks family on this matter shortly later, but simply to manipulate them and take samples of their DNA for further research, not to give them the respect and the consent that they deserved. (182) "The Lackses didn't know anything about the HeLa contamination problem that led McKusick and Hsu to them until Michael Rogers, a young reporter for "Rolling Stones", showed up at their house with long hair and a rock-and-roll clothes." (191) Still, even after their DNA has been taken from researchers, the family does not know the true reason for their involvement. They must find out from a "Rolling Stones" reporter, of all people, that it is not about whether or not they have cancer at all, but rather about the HeLa contamination. Throughout this final section, i was continually appalled at the researchers' failure to give the Lacks family the truth and justice they deserved.
Alfred, Cliff, Zakariyya, Sonny, Lawrence, Day, Deborah, and Henrietta, though ignorant, are human beings. They didn't deserve this ignorance and manipulation for so long. Considering all, Sonny seems to have an excellent grasp and view of this unjust situation: "I'm proud of my mother and what she done for science I just hope Hopkins and some of the other folks who benefitted off her cells will do something to honor her and make right with the family." (328) I completely agree with Sonny, and I hope this book is just the beginning of a tribute to pay back Henrietta and her family the respect that they rightly deserve.
I think that during the time that I have been reading this novel I have been been most strongly impacted by the horrible treatment that the patients, particularly African Americans, had to endure during this time period. When I think about it, this took place during my grandparents and parents lives so while I can try to convince myself that this all happened so long ago and that times have changed, in reality it was only a few generations back. In this particular section the mistreatment that I really could not move past was concerning mental health patients. On Deborah and Rebecca's trip to visit the treatment facility that Elsie was sent to and died in, they discovered a harsh reality surrounding the treatment of mental patients of the day. I was horrified to read that the facility had hundreds of additional patients over the capacity level who were crammed into whatever available space that could be found and made into a cell. They were treated like animals, not human beings, and in reality, these mental patients deserved better treatment than anyone else since they were of such a delicate state. The novel even mentioned that many of the patients who were in the facility should not have even been there and that they were misdiagnosed and placed there because no one wanted to deal with them. As doctors, it should be the goal to treat patients with the highest regard and do whatever is in their power to make them well. I just can not imagine locking people away and treating them so inhumanely. At the time, people did not have as much knowledge about mental illness, and human beings are always afraid of things they do not understand. This makes it easier to ignore the problem rather than fix it, not that this justifies the actions in any way, shape, or form. I also was sickened by the idea of the different procedures that doctors performed on these mentally ill patients (probably the source of Elsie's and countless other deaths).
Along with the continued examples of the extremely unethical medical practices at the time, the continued theme of hopelessness and feeling of loss in the Lacks family is ever present. While Deborah continues to remain optimistic and continues her journey in discovering the truth behind her mother and sister, her brothers harbor the long-lasting grudge against medicine and Hopkins. Even at the end of the story, when Rebecca tells what the characters are doing now, she mentions that although the brothers have come together since Deborah's death, they still feel that monetary compensation from the HeLa cells are deserved. They almost feel that this is what science OWES them in exchange for everything they have undergone. I'm not sure I can blame them for still not quite getting over it, but I don't necessarily agree with the idea of receiving money.
As a whole, I was really taken with Deborah and the will and determination she carried throughout her life. Growing up without her mother, along with everything her family had to go through, could not have been easy, but she continued to remain strong. She was constantly trying to gain knowledge that might help her to better understand which I think is fantastic. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and thought it was a great contribution to the syllabus of this class.
I felt like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was just as much a book about human psychology as research ethics. Skloot did not get bogged down with scientific facts and really touched at the personalities and hearts of the Lacks family. I watched the Lacks family as they developed from children to adults, living in the second of the half of the twentieth century. I watched their personalities develop and become molded by many interconnected factors. Deborah was always searching for her "missing piece" and found in it when she discovered the past about her mother and her sister. Aunt Ethel's abuse of little Joe in childhood made Zakariyya bitter and full of hatred. I found the behavior of Dr. Lurz and Christoph to be deeply refreshing, and I thoroughly enjoyed their chapters filled with the long-awaited kindness and compassion that the Lacks family deserved. When Skloot first introduced Cofield, I felt relieved that a lawyer would help finally go out of his way to help them. I was very disappointed and almost felt betrayed by the fact that he was just another person taking advantage of their lack of education and their desperate state.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks illustrates the leading principle of research ethics. When the scientists took Henrietta's cancer cells without her permission, the scientists themselves perhaps saw many different reasons for doing so. Some, like Howard Jones and George Gey, probably never really thought about the consequences of taking a simple cell sample from Henrietta. I remember Mary, the person who called Day and asked for his blood, simply said that a consent form would not be needed for such a simple procedure as taking blood. They saw it as inconsequential. Maybe the purpose of research ethics is to remind the scientist that their subject is a human being. Maybe a subject in an experiment has a life and a history all their own. I know that as a teacher that is the biggest thing to remember - that students each walk into the classroom with their own "baggage," their own lives that influence who they are in the classroom. George Gey lived in an environment of science - he went into debt to purchase lab equipment at the expense of his health, his financial status, and his wife. But all he could think about was his experiment, his special handiwork. He was so worried about his work that he forgot about Henrietta's "baggage." On the other hand, perhaps he did not consider that taking a few cells from Henrietta would actually be thought of as "baggage" at all. However, the lives of Sonny, Lawrence, Deborah, and Zakariyya would all be different if their mother's cells were not taken. I think that researchers, especially professional ones who have spent years and tons of money on their research, kind of become absorbed in it. As Dr. Barone and Jimmy pointed out in their presentation last week, research is very stressful and difficult work. I think it would be very easy to forget that the subject's social or environmental factors could be changed based on the simplest of procedures, such as taking a few cells. Gey never considered that maybe Henrietta and her family did not want her cells used for science at all, even if Henrietta would never know her cells were gone or if she was going to die soon anyway.
If you look at the pictures of Gey and Jones, they look normal, just like any regular individual in the 1950's. If you look at the "Where they are now" section of the book, both Gey and Jones sound like fairly typical, if not ingenius, scientists. Jones and Gey did not operate on Henrietta to be purposefully mean or cruel; rather, they were imprudent and short-sighted. I am not excusing the behavior of Jones and Gey, for prudence and long-term thinking is listed as a virtue, and therefore, should be part of human character. It is the purpose of research ethics to force a "regular individual," a scientist or researcher to stop and think about their patient and how the smallest action could have the most tragic and dire consequences for people who have their own unique situations, families, and livelihoods.
A question to consider perhaps: Our current education and knowledge of history is what allows us to form the idea that Henrietta(and other African American patients) were treated poorly. Granted, they were. But were they exploited? Michael brings up the point that Gey and Jones were just regular guys making a living through medicine. They treated Henrietta just like any other black, uneducated woman with cervical cancer. Even if they had explained the concept of the cell and what they were doing, would Henrietta have understood it? Were their actions truly unethical or did they simply follow protocol?
I think that Brianna raises a very good point. Our understanding of what is right and wrong is based on the time in which we live. These doctors were simply doing what they were taught to do and a miracle came from it. The simple question of whether it was right or wrong to take her cells without asking permission or informing her family is easy to answer when reading this novel in hindsight. But had you been her doctor in the early fifties and doing what was considered something that you not only would not get in trouble for but that you were specifically instructed to do.
Ignorance vs. knowledge: The plight of Henrietta’s family to be informed of what was going on, as Karlie and Andrea have already talked about is sad. In that situation it is hard to continue to make that argument that I was making before. I know that if the cells of one of my loved ones were taken without their consent, mass produced and sold all over the country, I would know that I would feel that they had been exploited and used. However, I find it hard to believe that Henrietta’s family deserved compensation for her cells. It is illegal to sell one’s child, why should they have been able to sell her cells for their own personal profit. Were they disrespected, yes. However if Henrietta had hypothetically signed a consent form the cells would have belonged to the university and the family wouldn’t have received compensation.
While greatly enjoyed this book, my one complaint with it is that it is obviously incredibly biased. The story was told with the underlying goal of glorifying Henrietta Lacks and speaking of the injustices done to her. The scientists were not given an unbiased portrayal. A more balanced approach telling both sides without an agenda may have furthered understanding of both sides of the ethical dilemma. This novel was a documentation (albeit an artful one) of the wrongs done to Henrietta Lacks. Personally, I’m not sure you can generalize everything into the wrong category. There are two sides to every story…
Happy Henrietta Lacks Day! For a woman who didn't do much during her lifetime, she sure accomplished a lot after her untimely death. Thank you to Henrietta for her contribution to science.
I agree with Holly. It was a good book, and definitely opened my eyes to the plight of African Americans in the scientific world. But the view from the Lacks' family is a little biased and blown out of proportion. What would they have done with her cells? Sold them? Gained profit on their dead mother? Both sides must be considered and both sides have legitimate arguments.
I found the ignorance of Henrietta Lacks' family striking. First, it is a not so great moment in American education. I mean, if that sort of ignorance showed up in a novel set in Victorian times, I would scoff and think "no one could be that ignorant." Apparently they can.
But I ask again: what, exactly, do the Lacks heir want? It seems the HeLa cells are basically being given away, and they are doing a lot of good. Do they want money? From whom? And why should they get money because their relative had mutant cells? None of them was hurt.
That is not to excuse what the doctor's did--simple courtesy would demand they inform the family of their sister's fate.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” has been a most interesting read. As I mentioned in my two previous posts, each of the three sections seemed to me to have a certain underlying theme that reached far beyond their simple titles (“Life,” “Death,” and “Immortality”). While the first section began to introduce the concept that science—and specifically the field of medicine—is certainly flawed, the second delved right into specific examples of uncountable injustices and thorny ethical dilemmas. The final section, however, focused less on science and more on the human element of the Henrietta Lacks story—an element that I particularly enjoyed reading. In my opinion, “Immortality” especially emphasized the theme of knowledge versus ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI’ve grown so accustomed to reading books for English-class purposes that I now find myself picking out literary themes in almost every novel that I encounter, so bear with me if this seems a bit far-fetched. I feel that in this final section, however, the author constantly emphasizes the pain and suffering the Lacks family went through. The root of this suffering isn’t necessarily presented as the widespread use of HeLa cells or even the fact that the family isn’t receiving its share of the profits; the root of their suffering, rather, comes from their ignorance.
We see numerous examples of this in the text. For example, Deborah is constantly wracked with fear and anxiety over the plight of her mother and sister; so much so that she becomes seriously ill. In her sister’s case, the simple unknown—a form of ignorance in itself—is to blame. Deborah suffered her entire life because she was so desperate to know what became of Elsie, and she is only able to feel relief once she visits what was once Crownsville Hospital for the Negro Insane and learns about Elsie’s horrible death (pg 268). To Deborah, having this knowledge is far better than being left in the dark. The same can be said about Deborah’s obsession with her mother’s cells. Almost every member of the Lacks family would be considered uneducated by today’s standards, and their inability to understand the use of their mother’s cells made their plight exponentially worse. Throughout the story, we see countless examples of science terrifying Deborah. For example, when she hears that her mother’s cells have been crossed with plant cells, Deborah believes that her mother has been made into a half-human, half-plant monster (pg 196) and that the clones of her cells made by London scientists were actually living clones of her mother (pg 237). Only when Deborah has the truth explained to her by Rebecca Skloot in very nonscientific terms does she finally come to peace with the existence of her mother’s cells. Deborah even directly states the importance of knowledge when she says, “Education is everything…if I’d had more of it, maybe this whole thing about my mother wouldn’t have been so hard” (pgs 251-252). Throughout the duration of the book, Deborah only panics when she feels that she does not understand.
Deborah’s story is only one example; the plight of every member of the Lacks family changes as they begin to understand the use of Henrietta’s cells and their contributions to science. Perhaps the most profound example is that of Zakariyya, who remains incredibly bitter about his mother throughout his life and is only prompted to change when Christoph Lengauer of Hopkins shows him her cells. Only then do we see the first hint of kindness in Zakariyya (pg 267).
I don’t mean to undermine the wrongs done to the Lacks family, and in no way suggest that the doctors who finally took the time to explain what had happened to their mother rectified these injustices. I merely wish to suggest that if even one person had bothered to help educate the Lacks family sooner, perhaps their plight wouldn’t have been nearly as bad.
Andrea's statement, "'Immortality' especially emphasized the theme of knowledge versus ignorance," mirrored exactly my understanding of the final section of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." The theme of Henrietta's family's ignorance begins immediately when Bobbette is absolutely shocked to hear from Gardenia's brother-in-law that "part of Henrietta [is] alive." (180) After 25 years, someone (still not the original researchers) finally reveals to a member of Henrietta's family that her cells are being cultured and "ordered from suppliers" (180) all over the country. This injustice and failure to receive consent is finally revealed to the Lacks family, however, they are still oblivious. Lawrence calls the operator at Hopkins, telling them that they have part of his mother alive, but hangs up when the operator finds no one with her name on record. "Lawrence hung up and didn't know who else to call." (181)
ReplyDeleteSomeone please explain to this family what is going on! Uneducated, they have no idea what it means when told that her cells are being multiplied. Finally, after years and years of darkness, the family is being enlightened, but still no one has taken the time to completely fill them in.
Researchers finally decide to speak with the Lacks family on this matter shortly later, but simply to manipulate them and take samples of their DNA for further research, not to give them the respect and the consent that they deserved. (182) "The Lackses didn't know anything about the HeLa contamination problem that led McKusick and Hsu to them until Michael Rogers, a young reporter for "Rolling Stones", showed up at their house with long hair and a rock-and-roll clothes." (191) Still, even after their DNA has been taken from researchers, the family does not know the true reason for their involvement. They must find out from a "Rolling Stones" reporter, of all people, that it is not about whether or not they have cancer at all, but rather about the HeLa contamination. Throughout this final section, i was continually appalled at the researchers' failure to give the Lacks family the truth and justice they deserved.
Alfred, Cliff, Zakariyya, Sonny, Lawrence, Day, Deborah, and Henrietta, though ignorant, are human beings. They didn't deserve this ignorance and manipulation for so long. Considering all, Sonny seems to have an excellent grasp and view of this unjust situation: "I'm proud of my mother and what she done for science I just hope Hopkins and some of the other folks who benefitted off her cells will do something to honor her and make right with the family." (328) I completely agree with Sonny, and I hope this book is just the beginning of a tribute to pay back Henrietta and her family the respect that they rightly deserve.
I think that during the time that I have been reading this novel I have been been most strongly impacted by the horrible treatment that the patients, particularly African Americans, had to endure during this time period. When I think about it, this took place during my grandparents and parents lives so while I can try to convince myself that this all happened so long ago and that times have changed, in reality it was only a few generations back. In this particular section the mistreatment that I really could not move past was concerning mental health patients. On Deborah and Rebecca's trip to visit the treatment facility that Elsie was sent to and died in, they discovered a harsh reality surrounding the treatment of mental patients of the day. I was horrified to read that the facility had hundreds of additional patients over the capacity level who were crammed into whatever available space that could be found and made into a cell. They were treated like animals, not human beings, and in reality, these mental patients deserved better treatment than anyone else since they were of such a delicate state. The novel even mentioned that many of the patients who were in the facility should not have even been there and that they were misdiagnosed and placed there because no one wanted to deal with them. As doctors, it should be the goal to treat patients with the highest regard and do whatever is in their power to make them well. I just can not imagine locking people away and treating them so inhumanely. At the time, people did not have as much knowledge about mental illness, and human beings are always afraid of things they do not understand. This makes it easier to ignore the problem rather than fix it, not that this justifies the actions in any way, shape, or form. I also was sickened by the idea of the different procedures that doctors performed on these mentally ill patients (probably the source of Elsie's and countless other deaths).
ReplyDeleteAlong with the continued examples of the extremely unethical medical practices at the time, the continued theme of hopelessness and feeling of loss in the Lacks family is ever present. While Deborah continues to remain optimistic and continues her journey in discovering the truth behind her mother and sister, her brothers harbor the long-lasting grudge against medicine and Hopkins. Even at the end of the story, when Rebecca tells what the characters are doing now, she mentions that although the brothers have come together since Deborah's death, they still feel that monetary compensation from the HeLa cells are deserved. They almost feel that this is what science OWES them in exchange for everything they have undergone. I'm not sure I can blame them for still not quite getting over it, but I don't necessarily agree with the idea of receiving money.
As a whole, I was really taken with Deborah and the will and determination she carried throughout her life. Growing up without her mother, along with everything her family had to go through, could not have been easy, but she continued to remain strong. She was constantly trying to gain knowledge that might help her to better understand which I think is fantastic. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and thought it was a great contribution to the syllabus of this class.
I felt like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was just as much a book about human psychology as research ethics. Skloot did not get bogged down with scientific facts and really touched at the personalities and hearts of the Lacks family. I watched the Lacks family as they developed from children to adults, living in the second of the half of the twentieth century. I watched their personalities develop and become molded by many interconnected factors. Deborah was always searching for her "missing piece" and found in it when she discovered the past about her mother and her sister. Aunt Ethel's abuse of little Joe in childhood made Zakariyya bitter and full of hatred. I found the behavior of Dr. Lurz and Christoph to be deeply refreshing, and I thoroughly enjoyed their chapters filled with the long-awaited kindness and compassion that the Lacks family deserved. When Skloot first introduced Cofield, I felt relieved that a lawyer would help finally go out of his way to help them. I was very disappointed and almost felt betrayed by the fact that he was just another person taking advantage of their lack of education and their desperate state.
ReplyDeleteThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks illustrates the leading principle of research ethics. When the scientists took Henrietta's cancer cells without her permission, the scientists themselves perhaps saw many different reasons for doing so. Some, like Howard Jones and George Gey, probably never really thought about the consequences of taking a simple cell sample from Henrietta. I remember Mary, the person who called Day and asked for his blood, simply said that a consent form would not be needed for such a simple procedure as taking blood. They saw it as inconsequential. Maybe the purpose of research ethics is to remind the scientist that their subject is a human being. Maybe a subject in an experiment has a life and a history all their own. I know that as a teacher that is the biggest thing to remember - that students each walk into the classroom with their own "baggage," their own lives that influence who they are in the classroom. George Gey lived in an environment of science - he went into debt to purchase lab equipment at the expense of his health, his financial status, and his wife. But all he could think about was his experiment, his special handiwork. He was so worried about his work that he forgot about Henrietta's "baggage." On the other hand, perhaps he did not consider that taking a few cells from Henrietta would actually be thought of as "baggage" at all. However, the lives of Sonny, Lawrence, Deborah, and Zakariyya would all be different if their mother's cells were not taken. I think that researchers, especially professional ones who have spent years and tons of money on their research, kind of become absorbed in it. As Dr. Barone and Jimmy pointed out in their presentation last week, research is very stressful and difficult work. I think it would be very easy to forget that the subject's social or environmental factors could be changed based on the simplest of procedures, such as taking a few cells. Gey never considered that maybe Henrietta and her family did not want her cells used for science at all, even if Henrietta would never know her cells were gone or if she was going to die soon anyway.
If you look at the pictures of Gey and Jones, they look normal, just like any regular individual in the 1950's. If you look at the "Where they are now" section of the book, both Gey and Jones sound like fairly typical, if not ingenius, scientists. Jones and Gey did not operate on Henrietta to be purposefully mean or cruel; rather, they were imprudent and short-sighted. I am not excusing the behavior of Jones and Gey, for prudence and long-term thinking is listed as a virtue, and therefore, should be part of human character. It is the purpose of research ethics to force a "regular individual," a scientist or researcher to stop and think about their patient and how the smallest action could have the most tragic and dire consequences for people who have their own unique situations, families, and livelihoods.
ReplyDeleteA question to consider perhaps: Our current education and knowledge of history is what allows us to form the idea that Henrietta(and other African American patients) were treated poorly. Granted, they were. But were they exploited? Michael brings up the point that Gey and Jones were just regular guys making a living through medicine. They treated Henrietta just like any other black, uneducated woman with cervical cancer. Even if they had explained the concept of the cell and what they were doing, would Henrietta have understood it? Were their actions truly unethical or did they simply follow protocol?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that Brianna raises a very good point. Our understanding of what is right and wrong is based on the time in which we live. These doctors were simply doing what they were taught to do and a miracle came from it. The simple question of whether it was right or wrong to take her cells without asking permission or informing her family is easy to answer when reading this novel in hindsight. But had you been her doctor in the early fifties and doing what was considered something that you not only would not get in trouble for but that you were specifically instructed to do.
ReplyDeleteIgnorance vs. knowledge: The plight of Henrietta’s family to be informed of what was going on, as Karlie and Andrea have already talked about is sad. In that situation it is hard to continue to make that argument that I was making before. I know that if the cells of one of my loved ones were taken without their consent, mass produced and sold all over the country, I would know that I would feel that they had been exploited and used. However, I find it hard to believe that Henrietta’s family deserved compensation for her cells. It is illegal to sell one’s child, why should they have been able to sell her cells for their own personal profit. Were they disrespected, yes. However if Henrietta had hypothetically signed a consent form the cells would have belonged to the university and the family wouldn’t have received compensation.
While greatly enjoyed this book, my one complaint with it is that it is obviously incredibly biased. The story was told with the underlying goal of glorifying Henrietta Lacks and speaking of the injustices done to her. The scientists were not given an unbiased portrayal. A more balanced approach telling both sides without an agenda may have furthered understanding of both sides of the ethical dilemma. This novel was a documentation (albeit an artful one) of the wrongs done to Henrietta Lacks. Personally, I’m not sure you can generalize everything into the wrong category. There are two sides to every story…
Happy Henrietta Lacks Day! For a woman who didn't do much during her lifetime, she sure accomplished a lot after her untimely death. Thank you to Henrietta for her contribution to science.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Holly. It was a good book, and definitely opened my eyes to the plight of African Americans in the scientific world. But the view from the Lacks' family is a little biased and blown out of proportion. What would they have done with her cells? Sold them? Gained profit on their dead mother? Both sides must be considered and both sides have legitimate arguments.
I found the ignorance of Henrietta Lacks' family striking. First, it is a not so great moment in American education. I mean, if that sort of ignorance showed up in a novel set in Victorian times, I would scoff and think "no one could be that ignorant." Apparently they can.
ReplyDeleteBut I ask again: what, exactly, do the Lacks heir want? It seems the HeLa cells are basically being given away, and they are doing a lot of good. Do they want money? From whom? And why should they get money because their relative had mutant cells? None of them was hurt.
That is not to excuse what the doctor's did--simple courtesy would demand they inform the family of their sister's fate.