The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Reflection on Henrietta Lacks

        The story of Henrietta Lacks brings to light the issue that the American Healthcare system had evolved from the injustices and immoral treatment of the American public. Skloot, the author of the text, informs the reader in such an intimacy that it leaves no room but to exercise the fact that we too have been betrayed by the healthcare system. Injustices such as those enacted in Tuskegee Syphillis experiment (1932-1972), and the studies that were undertaken at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital (1962), depict the magnitude of unethical treatment that researchers have taken in the name of science. The poor, disabled, and minority community have always been the driving force in research discoveries, by way of the use of their bodies, the disrespect for the lives, and the lack of acknowledgment for their part in the progression of medical research.

As far as federal laws go, Henrietta Lacks belonged to the demographic that had the least rights among any other race or gender. The injustices committed against the black community as whole do not begin to amount to those done solely on black women. Skloot mentions that Henriettaís family had come about through slave-slave owner relationships; these were in no case romantic, or heroic relations. Slave owners were known to rape the young women that, ìbelonged,î to them, as a form of pleasure and dominance. Living under the oppression of her family history, Day, and the medical staff at John Hopkins Hospital, it appeared that Henrietta Lacks was actually a very likely candidate for the removal of her tissue and the treatment she received. In fact Skloot makes it clear that this was a common practice at the time. Henriettaís story was one of many other black women who suffered the same unethical treatment, yet it was taken an extra step as they exploited the use of her cells world-wide.
      
        A dark part of Henriettaís life expands through the life of Elsie, Henriettaís oldest daughter. She was born mentally disabled and was soon placed into a hospital for the ìNegro Insane.î Later in the book Skloot details the horrors behind Elsieís untimely death, as she had been used in epilepsy studies. Elsie along with many other patients was among the largest clientele used in research studies. Elsieís files revealed a deformed face that had been repeatedly transformed by unnecessary treatment.

(sorry unfinished)

Michelle Reid