Hela

This article evaluates the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This will assess whether the book effectively illustrates the significance of Henrietta Lacks’ life, her contributions to science, and the impact on her family. There are other things that will be discussed such as Are there problematic elements with how Skloot portrays Henrietta and her family? Should researchers using HeLa cells learn about their history? How can learning about Henrietta Lack’s stories help one to become a more ethical leader. What can medical professionals do to prevent unethical behavior?

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951. While
receiving treatment as a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, her cervical cancer cells were
sampled and used to grow the first immortal human cells in culture. Those cells became known
as HeLa cells which became an important tool in medical research giving rise to the development
of the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, gene mapping, and in-vitro fertilization. Permission for use of her cells in research was not given by Henrietta or her family.

The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” told by Rebecca Skloot brings outs one fundamental issue, “that HeLa demonstrated how a single person could make a huge difference in the entire world.” In my opinion, there are no problematic elements of how Skloot portrays Lacks and her family. The book includes a telling of parts of the lives of Henrietta and her family members. Although the book is one of the only chronicles of Henrietta’s life, the events leading up to her death, the collection and use of her cancer cells, and the struggles and emotions of her family over the years since her death, the book does not focus on the medical advancements due to her cells. The book primarily focuses on Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, and her struggles with all the events that transpired over the years of her life. Skloot depicted many details of the Lacks family members that she interviewed and encountered during the book research.

I do agree with Lengauer’s quote that it is important to know about Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was not just a person who had woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line. She was more than that. She had a life before her cells came into play. It is important to know the person who is behind the cells. This will show the respect that everyone has for her as a person. Learning more about Henrietta could help people understand why her family feels the way they do and help the world understand Henrietta the person and not HeLa. “I’ve spent years staring at that photo, wondering what kind of life she led, what happened to her children, and what she’d think about cells from her cervix living on forever—bought, sold, packaged, and shipped by the trillions to laboratories around the world”( Skloot, 2010). These are things that I have thought about when briefly learning about HeLa. Knowing about Henrietta Lacks makes HeLa comes to life more. You get to know about the person and how all of this first came about and that is important.

Learning about the story of Henrietta Lacks helped me become a more ethical leader in many ways. There were things done in the story that was not ethical and should not have been done. One incident is where Southam started doing research on people with HeLa to test different theories he had. “In February 1954, Southam loaded a syringe with saline solution mixed with HeLa. He slid the needle into the forearm of a woman who had recently been hospitalized for leukemia, then pushed the plunger, injecting about five million of Henrietta’s cells into her arm. If he explained anything, he simply said he was testing them for cancer” (Skloot, 2010). Honestly and loyalty are two things you need to be an ethical leader. The Southam example showed me what not to do when it comes to patients and being in healthcare. You always want to ensure your patients are aware of what is going on and they have given you consent. It is important for your patients to trust you.

A practice and policy handbook are something that can be created for all employees. They can incorporate practical and ethical behaviors in the organization as well. If a policy violation does occur than the appropriate actions should be taken to ensure the employees or patients suffer from the offense. The violation will determine if the employee should be terminated or not. Conducting a biannually orientation and a compliance program need to be implemented as well as modifications to regulations, status, and laws of the healthcare industry.

In conclusion, the irony supporting the story of Henrietta Lacks is an African American woman who was exploited by scientists. The reason is because there were no laws in place that protects African Americans, so they had no choice. They had to accept what was done to them. Skloot the write of the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” portrayed Henrietta family to be uneducated, and poor but they always knew their mother had been violated. The science Gey performed did not reveal Henrietta’s name, but Christopher Lengauer thought it was important to know how she contributed to science. Also, to get to know as a person. Leadership and ethics were demonstrated in the story of Henrietta Lacks. It is important that all the medical professionals kept updated information about the regulations, status, and laws dealing with healthcare. This will help employees and employees from becoming a victim of unethical behaviors.