2. Read-Write-Think
“We must not see any person as an abstraction.
Instead, we must see in every person a universe with
its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own
sources of anguish, and with some measure of
triumph”
- Elie Wiesel
What are your thoughts on what Wiesel says? How do
you think this may impact our understanding of the
text?
3. The Author: Rebecca Skloot
The Immortal Life of
Henrietta Lacks is her
debut book.
She researched and
interviewed the subject
for over a decade.
Became interested in the
subject of HeLa cells in
high school.
4. Narrative Structure
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is written in
what is called a “braided narrative”
Work begins with two of more separate narratives, or stories.
While they seem unrelated at first, they eventually join up
The novel contains three unique narratives – the
story of Henrietta’s life, the story of the science
behind the HeLa cells and the story of the family
Henrietta left behind.
Each of these narratives is narrated by a separate “voice” –
including the author’s and Henrietta’s friends and family.
5. Important Issues…
Medical ethics and informed consent
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks went to Johns Hopkins Hospital to
have doctors examine an aggressive form of cervical cancer.
During her examination, two samples of cell tissue were taken
from Henrietta – one healthy sample and one cancerous
sample – without her consent. These tissues were sent to
researchers and – just so happened – to change the face of
science. However, the Lacks family was never told of this.
This was common practice in the 1950s, since many doctors
believed that those patients being treated in the public wards
of the hospital COULD be used for medical research.
Currently, this is not a practice used in hospitals as we are
required to give “informed consent” if hospitals plan to use
parts of “us” in medical experimentation
6. Important Issues continued…
Racism
Henrietta lived almost 20 miles away from Johns Hopkins
Hospital, but was forced to go there, instead of hospitals closer
to her house because they were the hospital in the area that
treated African American patients.
• How would Henrietta’s treatment differed if she was white?
• Would they have taken cell samples without her consent?
• Would they have told her and her family about the successful growth
of her cells in culture and how they advanced scientific discoveries?
7. Why should you care? The Top Ten Reasons
Law & Order used it for the basis of an episode
Henrietta’s story has shaped the ethical process in medicine.
HeLa cells were the first ever cloned and helped develop the Polio vaccine.
We use HeLa cells in research throughout the world
More than 60 critics named The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as one of the Best
Books of 2010.
Her cells were commercialized and have generated MILLIONS of dollars in profit
for the medical world (but, interestingly enough, NOT her own family who lives in
poverty.)
The story is being adapted into an HBO film.
In 1960, Henrietta’s cells went up in the second satellite ever in orbit.
If all the HeLa cells that have been produced were weighted, they would add up to
50 million metric tons and if laid out, they would wrap around the earth 3 times.
According to Wired, HeLA cells are the most popularly used cell lines for research.
http://www.smu.edu/Provost/Ethics/CommonReading/CommonReading2011
