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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacksby Rebecca Skloot |
Debbie Weiss: I agree with all the other individuals who have already reviewed
this wonderful and thought-provoking book. Issues in medical ethics are addressed and analyzed. Most interesting to me,
though, was how Henrietta's family was affected by the discovery that her cells were still alive and prospering, while their
beloved relative had been deceased for many years. Some were amazed and tried to understand, others were angry and distrustful of
the medical establishment. Rebecca Skloot was able to gain the trust of some of the family members so that she could
write this excellent and informative book.
Rating: *****
Gwendolyn Waring: I was enthralled by this scientific, and legal account
of cell ownership particularly as it parallels the true story of the black woman whose body the Hela
cells were taken from. A fascinating and well told story about the often blurred lines between ethics,
money and research in the scientific community.
Rating: *****
Judy Stanton: I heard about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on
a WABE program as well as at a conference where a speaker was talking about issues in
enrolling African Americans in clinical trials. The story, to me, was much more than one
family's struggles in learning about how science got and used their mother's cells and health
information without their knowledge or approval. It gave tremendous insight into medical ethics
and how patients' rights have changed over the years. Yet, per the epilogue, the issue of who
has control over cells/tissues/blood/etc. removed from a person's body after it is removed
(during a surgical procedure) is truly still up for debate. Many of the ancillary stories were
very interesting: about slave owners dressing up in sheets to scare slaves that they might
be caught and experimented upon (leading to the Ku Klux Klan "costume"); the story of research
in a Jewish hospital post holocaust and some doctors' refusal to participate in light of
the Nuremberg trials and its impact on experimentation on humans; the story of the surgeon
who kept having his patient return so he could take out valuable tissue from his body and
the one of the individual who got into selling/marketing his own valuable cells. Also in
the epilogue was discussion about genetics and future patents which explained the
high cost of breast cancer genetic testing, because one company, Myriad, has a monopoly
on genetic testing. Lots to consider, raises good questions, well researched.
Rating: *****
Carol Newell: This nonfiction story is as riveting as any mystery you will ever read, but more touching and emotional. Henrietta Lacks was 30 when she died horribly and painfully of cervical cancer, leaving behind five children. As was the practice then and still is today, her cells were taken without her knowledge or concent to be used to further scientific progress. Most cells die after a few days. Henrietta's human cells not only lived, they kept multiplying. Known as HeLa cells, they turned out to be the most important cells in biological history, going on to help find the cure for polio; being hurlied into space and used to understand cancer growth. Meanwhile, her poverty-stricken African-American family didn't find out about her cells for years, nor did they ever benefit financially from them although others did. Rebecca Skloot uncovers not only the story of Henrietta's life, bringing her alive in rich detail, but she gets close to her family and we become as involved with their lives as she is.
In addition to the wonderful human element of this story is the story
of genetics and necessary quest scientific knowledge and the experimentation
that goes with it. The argument over whether or not parts of you are still yours
once removed from your body goes on today. Irony abounds as the world has benefitted
from HeLa's cells and many have earned millions of dollars from using her cells
while her children can't afford health insurance. It's a story that needed to be
told and it is told beautifully by Skloot. It's a story that needs to be read.
Rating: *****
