The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

For anyone teaching - or interested in - bioethics, property rights in human tissue etc, I can recommend The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which I've just read on recommendation by a number of colleagues.  Rebecca Skloot's account of the development and use of the immortal "HeLa" cell line, derived from cancer cells of a woman named Henrietta Lacks, is a terrific interweaving of the human interest story of Henrietta Lacks' life, death and family alongside the scientific developments over many decades involving the use of the cell-line.  The author spent years interviewing Lacks' family as well as members of the scientific community and has written an engaging and accessible account of the science and bioethics concerns surrounding the use of human tissues in medical research.  She also deals with difficult race relations issues that have arisen, particularly in the medical science field over the last 50 years or so, particularly with respect to medical experiments conducted on disadvantaged populations without effective consent, as well as general access to health care issues.  It's a small, easy-to-read book that covers a variety of interesting subjects with intelligence and even-handedness.  Skloot gives her readers much information but appears to be trying her best not to be judgmental or to be seen to be "taking sides".  Thus, the book easily provokes discussion of a number of health care and bioethics issues, and may well be useful for law and policy courses in these areas.

Comments

[A Allen]

I have no medical background and I had never heard of HeLa, but I needed something enlightening to read and I saw this title pop up in a couple of articles. Certainly as a Black woman whose own mother was born in the 1920's, this story hit home. I was impressed with the backstory Skloot was able to obtain on Henrietta and Elsie; I appreciated also how Skloot followed HeLa's "celebrity" from humble "homemade" beginnings to world domination. What an education! God bless the family.

[dan]

Nice

[sussan]

Did you know about the fight between Rebecca Skloot and the president of generic viagra brands in the last Berlin Festival? They say they fell on the floor and hit each other.