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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca skloot.

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Suggested Essay Topics

1 . Why do some Lacks family members, like Lawrence, never fully trust Skloot?

2 . How does structural racism affect the lives of the Lacks family?

3 . What kinds of sources does Skloot use to research Henrietta’s story and why?

4 . Throughout the book, Skloot mentions different studies conducted on people without their consent. What kinds of people become research subjects and what does this say about medical ethics?

5 . Identify the differences between how Skloot and Lengauer treat the Lackses and how other journalists and scientists treat them. What do these differences say about the ethics of scientific and journalistic research?

Popular pages: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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IvyPanda. (2022, September 2). 56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-essay-examples/

IvyPanda. (2022, September 2). 56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-essay-examples/

"56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 2 Sept. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . "56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . 2022. "56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2022) '56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 2 September.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By rebecca skloot, the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay questions.

How did Henrietta’s race and gender impact her life?

Most significantly, Henrietta would not have developed cervical cancer if she were not born with a cervix. Moreover, Henrietta's race was connected with her family's tenuous economic and social position; they did not have a great deal of money or prestige, and so she did not have access to second opinions or options for care.

She might also have received better treatment if she were white, and certainly her doctors would have been less likely to take tissue samples from her without her consent. Lastly, the fear of doctors so prevalent in the Black community may have made Henrietta delay her medical treatment.

The book makes frequent reference to Henrietta's "immortality," derived from both the continual use of her undying cells in scientific research and her significance in the lives of her surviving relatives. Do you think either of these constitutes immortality? What's necessary in order for someone to be immortal?

I think that immortality requires an unchanging sense of self, so neither of these things qualifies as immortality. Henrietta herself cannot continue to learn and change and grow, though her cells and her memory still live on. Still, I think that the best hope any of us have for immortality is to remain living in the memories of our friends and family, so I understand why these things are called immortality.

One of the central controversies of the book is about the ownership of cell lines. Do you think that the patient who donated the tissue should retain ownership of the cell line, or should they pass to the ownership of the researcher who patented them?

I believe that the researcher who patented them should own the cell lines. It is the researcher who must perform the necessary techniques to establish and develop the cell line, not to mention the work of stabilizing and marking them. The donor does not lose anything by having their tissues used for experimentation after they have already been removed. However, I do think that the donor should receive a small portion of the royalties from the sale of these cell lines.

Why do you think Rebecca Skloot was able to get close to the Lacks family when so many others could not?

I believe it was Rebecca's tenacity and generosity, mixed with her genuine interest in the person of Henrietta Lacks, that allowed her to befriend the Lacks family. Rebecca was truly curious about Henrietta, not just seeking to gain financial stakes in her story like Cofield or to obtain biological material from the family like Susan Hsu. Rebecca made sure that some of the royalties from the sale of her book went to establishing a scholarship fund that would directly benefit Lacks descendants, which marks her as the only person who ensures that the Lackses receive financial compensation for the use of their foremother's cells.

Additionally, Rebecca is remarkably tenacious in getting ahold of the Lacks family members. She calls the family members repeatedly, and patiently waits when they change their minds about meeting with her. She does not push or force them to meet her, but instead waits when they are truly ready.

Henrietta’s doctors did not tell her about certain important details about her medical treatments, including the side effects of radiation and the terminal nature of her cancer. Why do you think they did not disclose this information?

One reason why Henrietta's doctors may not have disclosed information about her disease and treatment to her is because of the racism of the day; they may have assumed that Black people could not comprehend the side effects or make good decisions for themselves, and so did not bother to give them this vital information. Henrietta's doctors may also have dreaded having serious conversations about end-of-life care because they found them upsetting. If they chose to be upfront with Henrietta about her treatment as well as the time she had left, they would need to walk her through the emotional turmoil of dealing with this information

Lastly, it is also possible that Henrietta's doctors may have forgotten to tell her this information, or may have thought that one of the other people who offered her care had told her.

How did Henrietta’s early death impact her family?

Henrietta's early death impacted her family severely. Her husband Day had to take two jobs in order to support his children, so Henrietta's cruel cousin Ethel moved in to look after the children while Day was at work. Ethel had hated Henrietta, so she abused Henrietta's children horribly, especially Joe/Zakariyya. Ethel's husband Galen also sexually abused young Deborah.

Towards the end of the book, Zakariyya comments that if his mother had lived, he might have been a better person (pg. 283). If Henrietta had lived, she would have looked after her children and ensured that they were not abused by a cruel and vindictive relative.

What are some of the textual examples of unequal medical treatment received by Black people?

One example of the unequal medical treatment received by Blacks is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. In this study, researchers recruited Black men who were infected with syphilis. However, they did not provide treatment to these men or even tell them what disease they had and how it could be transmitted. They took regular biological samples from the men, but even when an effective and safe treatment for syphilis had been developed, did not disclose this information to the research subjects. The purpose of the study was to observe the progression of syphilis.

Eventually, a large number of the men died, and an even larger number infected their wives and children, causing numerous health problems. When the details of the study came to light, the enormous outcry led to the establishment of more robust medical ethics guidelines and review boards.

Do you think of the characters of George and Margaret Gey? They used cells from Henrietta without her consent to develop the HeLa line, but did not profit from it.

I think that George and Margaret Gey are dedicated researchers trying to improve the world of science. While it's true that they created the HeLa cell line without the consent of Henrietta or any of her family members, they were acting within the established scientific norms of their day. Also, neither of them made any money off of HeLa—in fact, Rebecca notes that "sometimes [Margaret] couldn't make their house payments or buy groceries because George had drained their account yet again buying lab equipment they couldn't afford." (pg. 220) They spent their own money in their quest for scientific innovation. Additionally, neither of them actually took the tissue sample from Henrietta without her consent; it was simply given to them.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

When Deborah finally decides to give Skloot access to Henrietta's medical records it is a significant moments. Explain why this is an important moment both for Deborah and for Skloot.

Deborah feels possessive of Henrietta's records because they're all she has left of her mother—a tragic but understandable confession. Allowing Skloot access gives some amount of liberation as well as the feeling that her mother's life had not...

Informed Consent

“Informed consent” means that patients must be informed of a doctor’s or lab’s intentions relative to the use of their tissue, blood, or cells.

Which of these sentences from the passage best supports the author’s claim that Henrietta’s cells have been widely used by scientists?

"Which of these sentences" means that you have been provided with answer choices for your question. Please provide all information in your posts.

Study Guide for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks study guide contains a biography of Rebecca Skloot, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Essays for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Lesson Plan for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Wikipedia Entries for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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Essays on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

The immortal life of henrietta lacks by rebecca skloot.

The non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, details the happenings and life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman and tobacco farmer who became a medical miracle in the 1950’s. The book is written in an attempt to chronicle both the experiences and tribulations of Henrietta Lacks and her family, as well as the events that led to, and resulted from, research done on Henrietta Lacks’ cells. Henrietta was a very average African American woman in this period; she had only a seventh-grade level education, and followed traditional racial and gender roles by spending her time has a mother and caretaker, as well as working on farms throughout her life until the involvement of the US in World War II brought her and her husband, “Day” Lacks, comparatively better work opportunities in industrial steel mills. However, after her death in 1951 Henrietta became much more than average to doctors at John Hopkins when the discovered that cells extracted from her cancerous tissue continued to live and grow much longer than any other tissue samples. Further investigation and isolation of these thriving cells led to the creation of the first ever immortal human cell line in medical history. The incredible progress in medicine made possible by Henrietta Lack’s tissue cells were not without downfalls, though. The treatments and experiences received by Henrietta and the effects it had on her and her family demonstrate both racial and gender

Henrietta Lacks Essay

Racism is immortal just like Henrietta’s cells it will always be around. People would do anything to be the first to discover something. At the end of the day it’s all about the money. The Mississippi appendectomies and the Tuskegee experiments were similar in the way that the government forced treatment upon minorities without consent. Henrietta’s case was different than Mississippi and Tuskegee because the doctor in Johns Hopkins didn’t experiment on her actual body but on her cells without consent. Henrietta’s case the Tuskegee experiments and the Mississippi Appendectomies are all different cases in different locations but serve the same purpose which is to take advantage of poor and uneducated minorities to

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay

5 Works Cited

Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia. Lacks died of cervical cancer on October 4, 1951, at age 31. Cells taken from her body without her knowledge were used to form the HeLa cell line. Lacks's case has sparked legal and ethical debates over the rights of an individual to his or her genetic material and tissue.

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Final Paper

In this semester’s book club, I have enjoyed the book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This book describes a true and famous cell line in the medical research field, that is the first immortal cell line in the world, HeLa cells. Not until I finished reading this fantastic book, I know that the HeLa cells were taken from a cervical cancer patient, Henrietta Lacks, without letting her know the truth about using her cells in research, even though she died. What more surprising to me was that her family lived a hard life without health insurance while the researchers make many profits from developing HeLa cells, they were never informed about their family member’s devotion to the scientific research.

Critical Analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

1 Works Cited

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, was a nonfiction story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Henrietta did not know that her doctor took a sample of her cancer cells a few months before she died. “Henrietta cells that called HeLa were the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory” (Skloot 22). In fact, the cells from her cervix are the most important advances in medical research. Rebecca was interested to write this story because she was anxious with the story of HeLa cells. When she was in biology class, her professor named Donald Defler gave a lecture about cells. Defler tells the story about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells. However, the professor ended his

The Flaws In Henrietta Lacks's Life

Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cells have made millions of dollars, but most people don’t know her name, or her story. “She’s usually identified as Helen Lane, but often she has no name at all. She’s simply called HeLa, the code name given to the world’s first immortal human cells – her cells cut from her cervix just months before she died. Her real name is Henrietta Lacks,” (Skloot 1). Through the last few months of her life, she had major struggles with hospitals and scientists. Henrietta was in serious pain throughout the last few months, and the doctor treated her as a specimen. “Henrietta is still a miserable specimen,” (Skloot 66). Another major flaw in Henrietta story is the fact that her family was barely told of her condition of cervical

Analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a true story of a poor, Southern African-American tobacco farmer who died in 1951 at the very young age of 31 years old from cervical cancer. Little did she know that cells harvested from her tumor, which were obtained without her consent have lived on and on and became one of the most important tools in medicine today. Despite Henrietta’s story being full of legal and ethical issues, the story was one filled with success and anguish. Success for science as her cells served as advancement in medical research and development; yet was sorrowful for Henrietta and her family. This story occurred during a time of segregation in the United States, when Henrietta Lacks believed she

Is Henrietta Lacks A Poor, Black Woman Who Died Of Cervical Cancer?

Henrietta Lacks was a poor, black woman who died of cervical cancer in the fifties. Her cells were taken from her during surgery, without her knowledge. However, back then there were no laws about informed consent and the mindset was entirely different. Researchers knew little about cells and how they function. Her immortal cells allowed researchers to have an ample amount of resources to be able to study cells and later on develop vaccines and treatments for many diseases. Even though her cells were cancerous, they still shared many basic characteristics of a normal cell, which allowed researchers to learn a lot about a cell’s basic function. Her story explains how medical research has developed and how health care has progressed over the past sixty years.

PSY 305 Week 4 Ethical Principles Essay

Batts, Denise Watson (2010). "Cancer cells killed Henrietta Lacks - then made her immortal". The Virginian-Pilot.

The Life Of Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 of cervical cancer, leaving behind a husband, five children and some cells taken from her without her permission. These cells continue to revolutionize the scientific field today and have played an integral role in some of the most important advances in medicine: cloning, chemotherapy, gene mapping, the polio vaccine and in vitro fertilization. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks answers a lot of questions regarding the Lacks family, but also poses a number of questions regarding ethics, consent and how far society is willing to go to make medical advances.

Essay On Henrietta Lacks

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. She has composed this biography of Henrietta Lacks to inform her readers about the hard reality that the Lacks family went through. In order to grasp a better understanding about this novel we will first uncover some details about Henrietta and her cells. Next, we will discuss how she came from a large family and that they were originally from Virginia. Finally, we will examine what she did after she moved to Baltimore and what happened after the move throughout the first two chapters.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Essay

12 Works Cited

After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of the society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa Cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years to perfect her first book, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot essentially captured the life, the death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks’ life. With controversial issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover,

Ethics, in our society, are the moral principles that govern our behavior, dictating what is right from wrong. The specifics of ethics changes as values in our society change and evolve. This occurs in Rebecca Skloots book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. One major reoccurring theme in the book is the lack of informed consent and autonomy. Fortunately, now there are safeguards which protect human rights in regard to health care and research. The Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, now part of the Department of Health and Human Services, created The Belmont Report, which is one such safeguard establishing principles for all human research (USDHHS, 1979). This paper will discuss the ethical issue of informed consent within The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the disregard to parts of the Belmont Report, as well as compare the role of the nurse in charge of Henrietta’s care versus the standards of care set for modern nurses.

Essay on Cancer Cells Made Henrietta Lacks Immortal

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Henrietta Lacks: an unknown name up until recent years. A name that had been known to the world only as HeLa; The first two letters of a name that belonged to a poor African American tobacco farmer that unknowingly changed science and life as we know it today. Her life has finally been portrayed in a very intimate story that not only does her life some justice but also transcendentally brings to mind the philosophical issues concerning medical ethics both of the past, present, and the future. In a world of constantly evolving medical advancement, science is a pivotal force that propels ideas forward. Although most will agree that the knowledge and cures found are a positive aspect, there is also a necessary evil that is involved, including

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Henrietta Lacks Essays

The immortal life of henrietta lacks.

Baltimore. Hennie and David had several children: David Jr., Deborah, Elsie, Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman, and Lawrence Lacks. Unfortunately, their daughter Elsie, died at the age of 15 from developmental disabilities. “Henrietta Lacks was feeling discomfort in her lower abdomen even before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. When she expressed her concern, the doctors told Henrietta that she was feeling the pain from a child forming inside of her.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks,, 2019) Our writers can help you with any type […]

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells a story about racism, painful life experience of a family and scientific ethics violation. Cell line referred to as Hela is the genesis of an extensive medical research. In Rebecca Skloot’s book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, Rebecca presents the life events of Henrietta Lacks, a mother of five who was diagnosed with cervical cancer upon delivery of her fifth born child, Joe. At four years old, her difficult life begun when […]

DNA: what is yours Worth?

Introduction The HeLa cell was discovered in 1951 from a cervical tumor taken from a cancer patient named Henrietta Lacks. These cells were important because they did not die after a few days like previous ones did because they were able to create a cell line. If one cell died, scientists used another one from the same sample. (1) These cells have led to scientific breakthroughs and new treatments and information surrounding the human body. The primary ethical question in […]

The Death of Henrietta Lacks

In the 1950s, American society still embraced social equality matters where segregation and racism was standard practice. These problems are an origin for several of the issues that arise in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot. Henrietta died a very personal, painful and private death at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland; then, the only real choice for free but segregated medical care for impoverished African American patients around. Treatment at Hopkins for Henrietta and other […]

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Book Review

“The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” is about a woman named Henrietta lacks who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. In chapters 1-5 we are given information relative to her the upbringing and how she found out she had cervical cancer. In chapter 1 we learn that after she had given birth to her 4th child she was experiencing extreme amounts of pain which she assumed to be from an undiagnosed std given to her by her husband. She started bleeding […]

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Henrietta Lacks Life

On October 4, 1951, a 31-year-old woman named Henrietta Lacks died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland [1]. However, fragments of her remain very much alive in biomedical research labs all over the world. Today, anybody can purchase cells from her body from numerous lab supply companies by the millions without any permission from Henrietta’s family [2]. This immortality is part of a complicated story involving biology, ethics, race, medical research, and patient privacy. This story was explored in […]

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, written by Rebecca Skloot, focuses on three parts: Life, Death, and Immortality. It is about an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks, who died from cervical cancer. Lacks was married to David Lacks and mother of five children. Before her death doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital collected samples of her cells without her or her family’s consent. The cells were obtained for the purpose of doing research and experiments. Cultured by Dr. […]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Book Response

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot is a shocking story that unfortunately follows a dark trend in American History. Henrietta Lacks was not the first black person to be taken advantage of by doctors or researchers. There is a long history of black people being experimented on without giving proper consent. These people were abused as test subjects for the purposes of scientific breakthroughs. The story reminded me of the syphilis experiments where black men were injected […]

HeLa Cells – Revolutionary Medical Advances

Reflective Assignment #1 HeLa cells have led to the most revolutionary medical advances in society today, they have also led to some of the greatest controversies. This all began with a woman named Henrietta Lacks. A wife, a mother, and a cousin, Henrietta spent her whole life helping others until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. During one of her treatments, a sample of tissue from Henrietta cervix was taken. With her sample, George Gey produced the first immortal human […]

Henrietta Lacks – Scientist

Although Henrietta Lacks died 65 years ago, her cells known as the HeLa line, live on, propelling scientific advances around the world. After their discovery, HeLa cells enabled the development of in vitro fertilization, the first clone of a human cell, the development of the polio vaccine, advances in gene mapping, and so much more. However, prior to the publishing of Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, few people knew the source of the HeLa cells. Skloot’s book […]

HeLa the Immortal Cell

Cells are the basic building blocks of life and make up all living organisms. There are two classifications of cells in every organism called prokaryotes and eukaryotes. A prokaryotic cell composes of single cell organisms like bacteria for example. While, a eukaryotic cell consists of multicellular organisms, the example for that is humans. The human body contains 75 trillion cells and each has its specific purpose and functions that they carry out throughout the human body. The human body is […]

Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa Cells

Henrietta Lacks was a thirty-one year old woman that visited Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland in 1951. She was an African-American mother of five. Johns Hopkins was the only hospital in the area that treated African Americans, although the hospital was still segregated at the time. While there, doctors confirmed she had cervical cancer. Lacks received numerous treatments including radium. Unfortunately, Henrietta died on October 4, 1951 from terminal uremia. This is a condition that caused blood poisoning from […]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Literary Analysis

Morality could be defined as the things you are taught about been right and wrong. You probably develop morality when your parents/guardian would tell you to respect your elders, keeps your promises, forgive or punish. Morality is something important we should know because it’s a guide or reminder to respect others and to be a better person. Henrietta Lacks is an important African-American female in modern cells. Lacks was a “black woman born of slavery and sharecropping who fled north […]

Who Owes the Henrietta Lacks Family?

Imagine being in a situation where your tumor cells were used for countless scientific experiments, without your consent. Safeguards today are in place to prevent such a situation, but in 1951 a woman, Henrietta Lacks, and her family found themselves in that very situation. Rebecca Skloot unveiled Henrietta’s story in a book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, that was then made into a movie April of 2017. Henrietta’s story raised questions about ethics, and race. The book shed […]

Essay about Period of Segregation

“During the period of segregation, also known as the American Apartheid, the policy of separate but equal resulted in a situation more than racial separation. American apartheid created inequality supported by the law and imposed through terror and violence. In southern states such as Georgia and Florida, segregation meant that the blacks were to get access to inferior education, poor health care and they were to live in houses in poor conditions, glazed by lead and infested by bugs. However, […]

Ethics & Informed Consent of Human Research

By definition, ethics is “a set of moral principles” and “dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation” (Ethic, Merriam-Webster). The general concept of ethics can be considered very subjective, depending on the scenario. When it comes to ethics in science, it is not black and white, nor will it ever be. As for the ethical principles of human subjects in research, there are three general principles to follow: respect, beneficence, and justice. The International Ethical […]

Hennrietta Lacks’ Medical Case

“In January 1951 Henrietta Lacks a 30-year-old African-American lady from Baltimore, was accurately diagnosed to admittedly have cervical malignancy at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center. She was attended to with radium brachytherapy, the specific standard of practical consideration at the appropriate time, yet her rare condition severely exacerbated. In August, seven precious days after she eagerly turned 31, she was promptly admitted to the specialist clinic with extreme stomach torment. Under three critical months after the unfortunate fact, she died […]

Racism in the Field of Medicine

“In recent years, the debate surrounding racism has made a large resurgence. While the ‘new’ racism is partially fueled by the presidential election, the subsequent fight against it and the debate about it are both caused by the weight and power that racism holds over the world. One aspect that is often overlooked is racism in the medical field. Whether it be receiving good healthcare, diagnosing mental health, being prescribed the right medicine, or the treatment that minorities received in […]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay

Henrietta Lacks was a key component behind the groundbreaking discoveries that changed the history of science and medicine forever. Henrietta and the Lacks family tree dates back through generations of plantation workers and slavery. With the time of her story being post Civil War era, I believe it should be highly considered that her consent to medical practice was taken advantage of. Henrietta suffered from cervical cancer. Presently, her cancerous cells turned out to become the first immortal cell line. […]

Discoveries in Biological Science

The world of biological science is a diverse, fascinating and ever-changing field. One that is filled with many ground-breaking discoveries that continue to shape the world we live in today. Within the past 200 years, advances in technology have rapidly increased which has led to incredible biological breakthroughs. Biologists like Alexander Fleming, Marie Curie, and George Otto Gey, have paved the way for our future generations. Just under 100 years ago, a biologist, and physician, by the name of Alexander […]

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot Essay

Rebecca Skloot wrote an award-winning non-fiction book that was published in 2010. Now, when I say award winning, I mean award winning. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks shattered the public view and rightfully so was the winner of multiple awards. The life of Henrietta Lacks, originally just an afterthought, is brought to light. Where we see a poor African American women from the 1950’s who suffered from cancer but had no knowledge of how hospitals or the health care […]

Controversy Around Genetic Ownership

“There are many ethical debates and controversy around genetic ownership. For instance, Henrietta Lacks. She was a black woman who went to the hospital for help due to a painful ‘knot’ in her womb. After being referred to John Hopkins, she is misdiagnosed and treated for the wrong illness, As she was going through ‘treatment’, tissue samples from her cervix were taken by an assistant without her consent or knowledge and given to Dr. George Otto Gey, who created a […]

The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks: Controversy over HeLa Cells

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks centers around a unique line of cancer cells taken from an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks. She was diagnosed and subsequently died of cervical cancer in 1951. It was astonishing to uncover the raw size of the cell line and the myriad research used to which her cells were put unparalleled in modern biological science. The cells replicated constantly and voraciously and have to date produced approximately 50 million metric tons of cellular […]

‘Henrietta Lacks’: a Donor’s Immortal Legacy

The book “Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a true book of her life experience written by American writer Rebecca Skloot. The book examines Henrietta Lacks, a poor tobacco rancher from the Southern US, whose cervical disease cells were gathered in 1951. Henrietta never knew that she was being so generous .Without her understanding or consent or any monetary pay, these cells were utilized to make an immortal cell line known as HeLa that researchers are utilizing right up ’til […]

Our Responsibility to Acknowledge the Sacrifices Made by Individuals Throughout History

We all learn in public school science class of the major discoveries made by world renowned scientists and doctors. We all learn about the spread of STDs and the importance of protection to prevent a world of pain and unhappiness. We all learn about the evils of cancer and how the mysterious disease is infecting our world like a plague. We all learn about the anatomical makeup of our bodies and how the surgeries can heal us after an accident. […]

Book Review of the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

From her first diagnoses, there was something uncanny about the cancer cells on Henrietta Lacks’ cervix. Before taking Lacks life in 1951, they took on a life of their own. HeLa (named from the initials two letters of her first and last name) cells were removed during a biopsy without Lack’s or her family’s authorization, they were then multiplied in a John Hopkin’s lab and were the first cells to have ever done so thus being known as the first […]

The Value and Ownership of Human Tissue and the Ethical Dilemma in the Case of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot’s book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” is about a woman whose cervical cancer was the source of a cell line used in drug development and other research, yet she remained virtually unrecognizable. Shouldn’t she share in the profits of one of the most successful cell researches ever done? Even though her cell name may be immortal the name of Henrietta Lacks could remain unrecognized. People should be compensated or at least recognized for something that isn’t only […]

Did George C. Wolf Compromise the Integrity of the Story of the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot’s, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, has been one of the most popular books since it was published in 2010 because it told a very complex, but also a very compelling story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, a person whose cells have benefited every person alive today. However, the director of the movie, George C. Wolfe, took certain liberties with the movie that I believe compromised the integrity of the story […]

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the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

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Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrative and language styles seen in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. How does the narrative shift in the course of the book? How does the dialogue in the narrative differ from the language style of the author? What literary devices are employed the most in the story?

Essay Topic 2

How does the author depict the repercussions of the loss of a parent in the narrative? How do you think Henrietta's life would have differed if her mother had lived? How would Deborah's life have been changed?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the theme of poverty in the narrative. What role did poverty play in the lives of the Lacks family? How does the author juxtapose this poverty with the successes of HeLa?

Essay Topic 4

Discuss Henrietta Lacks's diagnosis, treatment, and death. What type of cancer was Henrietta diagnosed with? What treatment was available for this...

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Suggested Essay Topics
Suggested Essay Topics ... . Why do some Lacks family members, like Lawrence, never fully trust Skloot? 2. How does structural racism affect the lives of the
56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topic Ideas & Examples
Best The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Topic Ideas & Essay Examples · Description of Ethical issues on collection of Henrietta cells
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Questions
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Questions · 1. How did Henrietta's race and gender impact her life? · 2. The book makes frequent
Essays on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Essays on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Essay examples. Essay topics. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: The Inequality in Healthcare.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topics
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topics · 1. Why is Skloot so interested in Henrietta Lacks? What inspires her to write Henrietta's story? · 2. Discuss
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay
This occurs in Rebecca Skloots book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. One major reoccurring theme in the book is the lack of informed consent and autonomy.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay
You will learn about a woman, who like us, had a family, and ended up not being able to truly live life to its fullest. Making us all realize just how cancer is
Henrietta Lacks Essay Examples
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells a story about racism, painful life experience of a family and scientific ethics violation. Cell line referred to as
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Topics & Writing
Essay Topic 1 ... Discuss the narrative and language styles seen in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. How does the narrative shift in the course of the book?
Discussion Questions for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Discussion Questions for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. 1. Race and racism are woven throughout the book, both in the story presented and in the.