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Lata's Reviews > The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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A lot to process with this book. This book's been out for a while, so I'm just going to put down a bunch of thoughts rattling around in my head, and probably leave it at that:
-legacy left by slavery and how it affected Henrietta Lacks and the members of her family, and African Americans in general (where they lived, what kind of employment was available to them, the quality of education available to them, the history of abuse and violence, and the impact on their mental health, and the quality and availability of healthcare)
-the assumptions and treatment by the medical establishment, at the time, of their patients and patients' rights
-the lack of laws, or their lack of clarity, around a patient's consent, and the ownership of a patient's waste products from medical procedures. This was well illustrated in this book, from the 1950s to the time of the book's publication.
-the quality of scientific education and knowledge in the general public. Unless people have some understanding of science, how are they to know what questions to ask of their doctors? The more affluent will generally fare better here, I suspect, what with their access to probably better trained teachers, and the ability to get higher education. And affluence and better outcomes would be partially dependent on where one started out in life.
-thank goodness medical procedures improve over time, or are retired in favour of treatments that work!!
-bioethics--thank goodness there is debate and evolution of ideas and laws. Though there are probably still lots of grey areas around research and commercializations
-I was interested to find out more about the point raised about the DNA of the cell descendants of Henrietta's original cancerous cells.
-I was sickened by the treatment, or perhaps I should say mystery around the treatment of Elsie, Henrietta's eldest daughter at the hospital for the insane. Or what doctors could call insane at the time.
This was a painful read, but an important accounting of a part of US history, and more specifically, the legacy of slavery on a family, and the changing attitudes and practices in medicine and science.
-legacy left by slavery and how it affected Henrietta Lacks and the members of her family, and African Americans in general (where they lived, what kind of employment was available to them, the quality of education available to them, the history of abuse and violence, and the impact on their mental health, and the quality and availability of healthcare)
-the assumptions and treatment by the medical establishment, at the time, of their patients and patients' rights
-the lack of laws, or their lack of clarity, around a patient's consent, and the ownership of a patient's waste products from medical procedures. This was well illustrated in this book, from the 1950s to the time of the book's publication.
-the quality of scientific education and knowledge in the general public. Unless people have some understanding of science, how are they to know what questions to ask of their doctors? The more affluent will generally fare better here, I suspect, what with their access to probably better trained teachers, and the ability to get higher education. And affluence and better outcomes would be partially dependent on where one started out in life.
-thank goodness medical procedures improve over time, or are retired in favour of treatments that work!!
-bioethics--thank goodness there is debate and evolution of ideas and laws. Though there are probably still lots of grey areas around research and commercializations
-I was interested to find out more about the point raised about the DNA of the cell descendants of Henrietta's original cancerous cells.
-I was sickened by the treatment, or perhaps I should say mystery around the treatment of Elsie, Henrietta's eldest daughter at the hospital for the insane. Or what doctors could call insane at the time.
This was a painful read, but an important accounting of a part of US history, and more specifically, the legacy of slavery on a family, and the changing attitudes and practices in medicine and science.
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Reading Progress
December 12, 2016
–
Started Reading
December 12, 2016
– Shelved
December 14, 2016
–
Finished Reading
December 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
auth-f
December 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
x2016-read
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Eileen
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rated it 4 stars
Dec 14, 2016 09:14PM
I completely agree, Lata, there was a lot to process in this book and it was an important story to bring forward. :)
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Eileen wrote: "I completely agree, Lata, there was a lot to process in this book and it was an important story to bring forward. :)"Thank you, Eileen. I'll be thinking about this book for a while.
Very interesting review, Lata, thank you. I taught high school biology, and we discussed HeLa cells in our lesson on stem cells, but from a purely scientific point of view.
Might I ask, what point did you mean, when you wrote: I was interested to find out more about the point raised about the DNA of the cell descendants of Henrietta's original cancerous cells.
Thanks.
Might I ask, what point did you mean, when you wrote: I was interested to find out more about the point raised about the DNA of the cell descendants of Henrietta's original cancerous cells.
Thanks.
Hi Anne: there was a section in the book where Rebecca Skloot spent some time discussing the DNA of Henrietta and of her cancerous cells, but I felt like that wasn't really concluded in the book, I felt like she just jumped to the next topic. Interesting that you taught others about these cells.
