The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Part 2 Chapters 12-22 - Book Report/Review Example

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Summary of Part 2 – Chapters 12-22 Summary Chapter 12 of the book opens with a brief discussion of how HeLa has impacted the world of cellular research. As Henrietta’s family at last gave permission for an autopsy and for the hospital to obtain tissue samples, the study upon Henrietta Lacks’ at the cellular level began. Due to the fact that her cells were readily grown in the laboratory, the Tuskegee Institute began a dedicated lab that specialized in growing, transferring, analyzing, and transmitting the tissue around the nation. For approximately 10 dollars, interested scientists could obtain samples of the cells to perform their own study. Due to the fact that at its peak around 20,000 test tubes a week were being produced at Tuskeegee, it was at this juncture that the idea of personhood began to be diminished within the eyes of the researchers. HeLa became less and less of a person and more of a resource and a medical material rather than evidence of an original human being that gave rise to such cells. As with previous chapters within the book, the author runs between analyzing the medical research that is being carried out on the “still living” cells of Henrietta while contrasting this with the life that her children and family she left behind experienced. Although the medical experimentation was continuing and advancing, Henrietta’s family was experiencing trauma as a direct result of the lack of a mother. The children bounced from one location to the next, at one location the 2 year old girl was sexually abused, until they finally were reunited with Bobette and moved in with her. The author juxtaposes this personal story with the fact that HeLa was beginning to experience a great deal of discussion in the media of that time as news articles began to be published. Due to the fact that doctor-patient confidentiality was becoming an issue at the time, the patient was merely referred to in the news stories as Helen L. The author further uses this personal commentary to discuss the grave site of Henrietta. She juxtaposes the fact that the tomb itself is unmarked with the fact that the only remainder of Henrietta still in this world is her children and the cells which have continued to be kept, monitored, and multiplied. Chapters 18 and 19 tell the dual stories of trouble that the scientists faced with contaminated cell lines and the personal problems that Henrietta’s children were experiencing; no doubt as a function of her early passing (Skloot 129). Firstly, the medical experiments revealed that at some point, some of the cells in question had been contaminated with other lines; this meant that the rigor of the research was called into question and the researchers must go back and trace the mutations as a function of this contamination. Furthermore, the author juxtaposes these research issues with the fact that Henrietta’s children began to experience major issues of their own. The book proceeds to tell the story of the way in which HeLa’s cells have been found in 18 cell lines that have been used for cancer research. This revelation is juxtaposed with the personal story of Rebecca’s meeting with the Lacks family in early 2000. As she discusses the result of the experiments and the way in which HeLa’s cells have been used, the Lacks family is angry. First they are angry at the fact that Henrietta’s cells have been taken according to them “without her consent” and second they are angry due to the fact that they believe a great deal of money has been made on the sale of her cells. As such, the family demands a share of that money. The darker side of humanity is herein presented as the medical advancement that has been made possible through the use of Henrietta’s cells is broken down as a function of its money making potential to the surviving family members. The analysis continues to depict a family that is not only interested in the overall privacy of their family but also worried by the fact that they had only recently come to a full realization of what the growth and evaluation of the HeLa program actually meant for them. In the early stages before the family was intimately aware of what was going on with the HeLa program, many of the family members were severely worried by the fact that researchers and doctors began to express such an interest in obtaining blood and tissue samples from the surviving family members; due in part to the fact that they believed this was evidence that they too suffered from the same form of cancer and would die an early death just the same as Henrietta. Response: What was unique about this particular section of the book is how the author traced the developments that occurred as a result of the action that had taken place in first part of the book. Rather than simply state the facts concerning how the HeLa project advanced as a function of time and increasing technology or rather than merely relate to the reader how the children and family members of the Lacks family got on with their lives, Skloot works to show a family and a scientific community that was impacted profoundly by the woman whose cells redefined cancer research. This approach helps to connect the reader with the “ongoing” life of Henrietta Lacks rather than providing a clean break with her death and the new life that her family and medical community experiences. Such an approach is integral to understanding the key premise of the book due to the fact that the author wants more than anything else to connect the reader with the “immortal” life that Henrietta lives. Furthermore, this section allows for a great deal of development with relation to medical ethics that was not discussed to such a high degree in the first part of the book. Due to the fact that the samples were taken without the foreknowledge of her relatives, the author is able to discuss how such a revelation impacted upon the family as well as worked to foster a primal greed among them with relation to a desire for some profit as a result of Henrietta’s cells. This topic alone, although glossed over gives the reader pause with relation to the ethics of ownership and profiteering that took place from Henrietta’s original tissue. Work Cited Skloot, Rebecca. The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011. Read More