Henrietta Lacks: The Immortal Cells
Henrietta Lacks, an African American lady, passed away from cervical cancer in 1951, but her cancerous cells were later identified as the first immortal human cells. A Hopkins Hospital tissue expert named Doctor Gey subsequently referred to these cells as Hela. Journalist Rebecca Skloot set out on a quest to learn more about Henrietta Lack's life, her battle with illness, and her family. Rebecca highlights the important contributions that the Hela's finding made to modern biology and medicine. In her quest to discover more information about Henrietta, Rebecca introduces Deborah Lacks who is Henrietta's daughter who plays a crucial role in her journey.
A Journey into Henrietta's Family History
The author of the book takes about a decade to penetrate the victim's family and be able to understand her life to bring one of the untold unethical stories in the medical field out to the world. Rebecca discusses intimate details of Henrietta's family for she traces her lineage back to a town known as Clover, VA. Details of how she met her husband emerge; her first daughter who was mentally impaired is brought into the picture; she died in an asylum. She left five children behind at her demise at the tender age of 31.The act of getting into intimate details of the family can be considered unethical, but in this case, it helps an audience understand a clearer picture of the close family of the subject and empathize with the victim.
The Contrasting Cities of Clover and Lacks
Rebecca describes the community of Clover as having a small population of about 198 people in the year 1998. The town looks deserted and has lost its charter. No active businesses are witnessed as the author visits the city. She later informs those readers that there was once a post office that was operational but was closed shortly before she arrived at the city. She's then pointed the direction of the Lacks town by a man called Greeter where Henrietta and her family lived. A sharp distinction is drawn between the two cities, one with well-kept farms and homes while the other one had one room shacks, trailers and cinder-block houses and slave cabins. One side is reserved for the rich and well-off while the rest of the population occupied the opposite side. The Lacks family held the latter.
An Untold Ethical Dilemma in Medicine
Njoku (286) explores the journey of Rebecca as a young Jewish reporter who takes years to earn the trust and love of Henrietta's family to be able to tell her story. The author further points out how not much credit has been given to the owner of the cervical cancer cells that have contributed to science and medical field. Personal opinion is voiced by the author in regards to using of patients body parts without consent in research when they die. As a physician and scientist at the John Hopkins, Njoku says, "This book is a good read! It will offer insight to physicians and other healthcare providers. Take it from me, a reluctant reviewer. If we do not learn from history, it will repeat itself" A high recommendation to other physicians to take time and read this book is made to understand patient's genuine concerns.
The Struggle for Trust and the Untold Story
Rebecca invests her time and resources to earn trust from the Lacks household and family to be able to air story to the outside world. As a journalist, she had significant gains in her career, because such a story will put her on the map in regards to the unknown and uncelebrated medical achievements and contributions made by patients. She gives voice to the Lack's family where Henrietta is celebrated as a hardworking, young mother, wife and church-going American African woman whose life, ambitions and dreams are cut short by cervical cancer. On top of the disease, the author brings to light the racial injustices and malpractices that were administered to Lacks family by the hospital during that time that Henrietta was under their care.
The Impact of Henrietta's Cells on Science and Medicine
In his book review, of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, John M. Moore states that "If you want to bring science reading into your classroom and show why everyone needs an understanding of science and why scientists need to be aware that there is more to life than just science'' He further emphasizes on this book as an essential material to read for any person involved in medicine or science department. (Moore, 586). This author further states that, the practice of collecting a patients organs and parts without consent was common and widespread during that particular period. This adds more support to Rebecca's argument of unethical practices in hospitals and health institutions.
The Racial Cruelty and Injustices in Healthcare
"We are exposed to the racial cruelty and hospital malfeasance and American health care system," said Anita Catlin in her book review and article on the Henrietta Lacks story written by Rebecca Skloot. She further explains how the Lacks experience is every ethicist nightmare (Catlin 204).In September 1951, when Cancer had taken over Henrietta's body she needed frequent blood transfusions, and at some point, doctors stopped giving her blood. Her family decided to come and make blood donations, but a racial discrimination was displayed when they are directed to a room designated for the "people of color" to give blood. That was humiliating to both Henrietta and her family. Despite the fact that Hopkins Hospital is the top and best Hospital on the land, there were profound racist practices when it came to cases involving African American patients.
A White Journalist Sheds Light on Henrietta's Story
Rebecca Skloot was a white journalist, and her will and zeal to get to the bottom of Henrietta's story are admirable. Her quest to have the story told to the world gave her an edge among her audience and the whole world in general. With the broad racial practices everywhere people were keen and interested in understanding why a white person will have so much interest in a "person of color "story. And as a result, the Lacks story was able to be told and heard. Due to her diligence, resilience and quest the untold story of Henrietta Lacks was able to reach the world. The corrupt malpractices, social injustices in the health institutions and the world were highlighted and brought to light.
An Insight into Medical Ethics and Informed Consent
Patricia Ringo Beach, an oncology nurse, points out how it will be beneficial for other nurses to read and understand about lack of informed consent when it comes to patient's rights and body parts in health institutions worldwide. She says "such issues give context to the rules and regulations that safeguard the research process and clinical trials that nurse's work within today. The labor and fundamentals of cellular biology will be clearer to readers after they finish this book". Patricia faults the doctor in charge who harvested Henrietta's cells without her consent and used them in experiments.
The Intriguing Beliefs of the Lacks Family
In her journey to seek and tell the story of Henrietta, Rebecca comes across Cootie who is the cousin of the deceased. He laments on how the Hela cells that were derived from his cousin's body have been sold and benefited masses across the globe while they languish and suffer from poverty. He, however, brings in a critical thread, a new angle to the whole story by implying voodoo and witchcraft. The Lacks family believes that Henrietta's spirit is alive in the Hela cells. His ignorance of the modern medical procedures and cell culturing points out how they were isolated and ignored by the facility that used their family member's cells. If they were at all involved, they could have been educated and explained about the cells multiplication process and purposes.
Racial Discrimination and Denial of Medical Care
The author notes that in 1951, the doctors administered a heavy dosage of morphine to the patient and stopped all other types of medication. Being in the hospital is meant to bring relief and peace to the patient, but this was not the case in Henrietta's life. She was denied medical care by the very institution that was meant to care for her. Racial discrimination has been pointed by Rebecca earlier, might this have contributed to her case? The inequality that the patient received while at the hospital from the issue of blood donation to denial of medical care provided to her having severe last days. Henrietta later wakes up and tells her sister Gladys that she was going to die and asks her to take care of her children. With her last request being of her young children, it's unfortunate that they were not well taken care of as she would have loved. The financial constraint was a significant factor that hindered her wishes as a mother to be honored. It's ironic how her Hela cells were distributed and sold to millions of people, but no single cent was channeled to her family.
The Plight of the Orphaned Family
The pain of a family who is orphaned when young is further elaborated and displayed. Their ignorance of their mother's Hela cells which could have translated to high monetary benefits comes out clearly. The young children lacked education and made their lives more miserable. Rebeca points out what the family said at some point, "You know what a myth is? Everybody is always saying Henrietta Lacks donated those cells. She didn't donate anything. They took them and didn't ask."
The Medical Breakthrough Enabled by Henrietta's Cells
Jacqueline H. Wolf in her review of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks says that the Lacks story is an excellent example of a medical ethics story that was unknown to the public. Rebecca's in-depth research and authoring of the story brings it out to the world and points out the evil that was involved. "Doctor George Gey, triumphed using Lacks cells," she says. (Jacquelin, 139).The head of tissue culture at the Hopkins harvested her cervical cells without the patients or family known for his experiment of growing malignant cells outside a human body. He named them Hela cells after not only surviving outside the body but thriving into mythological intensity. The cells contributed in developing of polio vaccines, cloning processes, and even fertility cases.
A Book with Implications for Medicine and Science
Andrea L. Stein points out Henrietta's cancer cells made significant benefits to the obstetrics and gynecology medical fields. He summarizes in his review that this book Andrea advocates for every physician, scientist, the stem cell expert and ethicist to read it. "If you are too busy, I suggest you listen to it as an audiobook. It is too good to miss" he says. (Stein, 1195).Andrea further emphasizes on how this novel addresses the domestic violence, institutional horrors like the harvesting of human cells without their consent. The scientific discoveries are also brought out, bioethics, injustices, and malpractices in health institutions are exposed.
The Life and Contributions of Henrietta Lacks
The story of Henrietta Lacks, a cervical cancer patient whose struggle, pain, and efforts to get treatment, as told by Rebecca Skloot, portrays a poor tobacco farmer whose cancerous cells results in the positive contribution to the science and biology field in the medical files. Despite the racial discrimination characterized in the hospital, the harvesting of the cells without the patient's consent. Her family is left wallowing in poverty and death robs them of a mother and wife. The evil nature of hospitals and greedy is portrayed when all credit goes to a tissue doctor who was in charge developing and distributing Lack's cells. The origin of the miracle cells is entirely ignored by everyone except her family and the intrepid reporter. The cells will lead to significant discoveries in the medical field and contribute mainly to other conditions.
Works Cited
Catlin, Anita. "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks." Pediatric Nursing, July-Aug. 2010, p.
204. Academic One File, Accessed 22 Oct. 2017
Jacqueline H.Wolf, Ph.D., Journal of History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Volume 66, Number 1, January 2011p.238
Njoku, Dolores B. MD, Anesthesia & Analgesia: July 2013-Volume 117-Issue 1-p 286 ,doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e31828bfecc
Moore, John M. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." The American Biology Teacher, vol. 72,
No. 9, 2010, p. 586+. Academic One File, Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Rebecca Skloot. The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. United States: Crown Publishing House, February 2, 2010.Print
Stein L Andrea, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, March 1, 2011Volume 95, Issue 3, Page 1195 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2010.12.045
