The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Abstract

Rebecca Skloot addresses bioethics, genetics, race and medicine in The Immortal Life Henrietta Lacks. It is a story worth reading, learning, remembering and, ultimately, teaching.I always thought her name was Helen Lane. I was wrong. It was a newspaper misprint. Her name was really Henrietta Lacks, a beautiful woman with a husband, 5 children and a large extended family. She died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the “colored” ward at 31 years of age. No one told her, or her family, they had taken some of her cervical cancer cells for research. Henrietta Lacks’ doctors included some of the “greats” in obstetrics and gynecology, pathology and genetics, including R.W. TeLinde, H.W. Jones and V.A. McKusick. This was the era before modern research ethics, bioethics or informed consent. Yet it was after the Nuremberg Code and Belmont Report. These became the first cells that could be grown in perpetuity in cell culture.Anyone who has worked with tissue culture has heard or worked with HeLa cells. They came from Henrietta Lacks without her (or her family’s) knowledge. With this book, HeLa cells come alive as a person. Just as one is taught to treat each patient as an individual with a history, Rebecca Skloot teaches us that every cell has a story. That story or narrative must be told and respected. In the 1970s, 25 years after Mrs. Lacks’ death, her family first learned of the legacy of HeLa cells.Ms. Skloot uses her decade of investigation, interviews and journalistic skills brilliantly (www.RebeccaSkloot.com). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks reads like a novel. The book addresses issues of domestic violence, institutional horrors (particularly human experimentation), scientific discovery (e.g., cell culture, basic genetic techniques, vaccine development), infectious disease (HPV infection) and most of bioethics (research ethics, justice, beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, confidentiality, integrity, etc). In addition, it has a comprehensive index and references.In summary, The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks is part biography, part history and a great deal of ethics. It should be required reading for every physician, scientist, embryologist, patent attorney, stem cell expert and ethicist. If you are too busy, I suggest you listen to it as an audio book. It is too good to miss. Rebecca Skloot addresses bioethics, genetics, race and medicine in The Immortal Life Henrietta Lacks. It is a story worth reading, learning, remembering and, ultimately, teaching. I always thought her name was Helen Lane. I was wrong. It was a newspaper misprint. Her name was really Henrietta Lacks, a beautiful woman with a husband, 5 children and a large extended family. She died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the “colored” ward at 31 years of age. No one told her, or her family, they had taken some of her cervical cancer cells for research. Henrietta Lacks’ doctors included some of the “greats” in obstetrics and gynecology, pathology and genetics, including R.W. TeLinde, H.W. Jones and V.A. McKusick. This was the era before modern research ethics, bioethics or informed consent. Yet it was after the Nuremberg Code and Belmont Report. These became the first cells that could be grown in perpetuity in cell culture. Anyone who has worked with tissue culture has heard or worked with HeLa cells. They came from Henrietta Lacks without her (or her family’s) knowledge. With this book, HeLa cells come alive as a person. Just as one is taught to treat each patient as an individual with a history, Rebecca Skloot teaches us that every cell has a story. That story or narrative must be told and respected. In the 1970s, 25 years after Mrs. Lacks’ death, her family first learned of the legacy of HeLa cells. Ms. Skloot uses her decade of investigation, interviews and journalistic skills brilliantly (www.RebeccaSkloot.com). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks reads like a novel. The book addresses issues of domestic violence, institutional horrors (particularly human experimentation), scientific discovery (e.g., cell culture, basic genetic techniques, vaccine development), infectious disease (HPV infection) and most of bioethics (research ethics, justice, beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, confidentiality, integrity, etc). In addition, it has a comprehensive index and references. In summary, The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks is part biography, part history and a great deal of ethics. It should be required reading for every physician, scientist, embryologist, patent attorney, stem cell expert and ethicist. If you are too busy, I suggest you listen to it as an audio book. It is too good to miss.