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Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.… (más)
bunnygirl: personal history and stories linked with the larger African American history. if you were wondering about Skloot's reference to the Lacks family being part of the Great Migration, this book explains exactly what it is and tells the stories of three families in a similar manner.… (más)
krazy4katz: Reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," I was pained by the impoverished lives of people who still lived on plantations in the 1940s - lack of schooling, lack of health care, lack of any kind of decent housing etc. "A Lesson Before Dying" more directly addresses the life of people still living on plantations in the '40s. Even though I sort of knew this, it was an emotional shock to truly recognize that all the abuse and oppression did not end with the Civil War but was still there 80 years later.… (más)
BookshelfMonstrosity: Cell cultures are being used to study diseases as well as cure them. Learn about the cell cultures called 'HeLa' in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and read about cell cultures' utility as a whole in Life Itself.
LeesyLou: If you have an interest in the social and personal ethics and background of medical care, this adds to your understanding. Minority cultures and personal medical ethics are equally poorly understood by many practitioners.
krazy4katz: Both of these books capture and humanize the process of medical discovery and the experiences of the patients. Although the authors have somewhat different backgrounds — Rebecca Skloot is a journalist with an undergraduate degree in biology, whereas Rikki Lewis has a PhD in genetics — I think the discussion of the scientific issues and the ethical issues regarding informed consent would appeal to the same readers.… (más)
Limelite: Scientific discussion of medical/ethical, and other considerations regarding patients' rights and the medical profession's responsibilities on the subject, as well as other pertinent procedures.
I was really moved by this story. I don't read much nonfiction, but am very glad I made time for this one. It's filled with important information about Henrietta, the cells that have done so much for science, and the wreckage and pain that is often left behind when a loved one is lost, particularly in difficult circumstances. I learned so much, but also found myself very involved in the Lacks family's struggle. It's sad, touching, and finally hopeful. ( )
I waited about 2 years for this to become available at the library but was not disappointed. A controversial subject dealt with in a thoughtful and balanced way ( )
Good science writing. This book raises lots of questions about medical research and profits, race, poverty, education and ethical issues involving tissue and cell ownership.
The beginning of the book was a lot more interesting to me than the end. Part one concentrates more on Henrietta's cancer and diagnosis whereas the end of the book involves the author and Henrietta's family. The author is persistent and fearless in her pursuit of information for the book. Unfortunately the way the family was described made them appear unsympathetic or as one reviewer said "insufferable."
I do wish the author had stressed right from the start that the HeLa cells "taken without her knowledge" were cancer cells. The Drs. did take healthy tissue too but those cells did not survive.
I really like the quote the author used by Elie Wiesel. "We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph." ( )
I read this during my first year of my PhD program and again just in the last few days. When I first read it, I was saddened by what pain Lacks experienced. And also by Deborah Lacks' grief and subsequent health challenges she and her family faced. Now that I am a scientific program officer, I am further horrified by the lack of informed consent that took place. And how people today think regulation is unnecessary and hinders research and development. An IRB is necessary. ( )
I read this during my first year of my PhD program and again just in the last few days. When I first read it, I was saddened by what pain Lacks experienced. And also by Deborah Lacks' grief and subsequent health challenges she and her family faced. Now that I am a scientific program officer, I am further horrified by the lack of informed consent that took place. And how people today think regulation is unnecessary and hinders research and development. An IRB is necessary. ( )
Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully and tells the Lacks family’s often painful history with grace. She also confronts the spookiness of the cells themselves, intrepidly crossing into the spiritual plane on which the family has come to understand their mother’s continued presence in the world. Science writing is often just about “the facts.” Skloot’s book, her first, is far deeper, braver and more wonderful.
I put down Rebecca Skloot’s first book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” more than once. Ten times, probably. Once to poke the fire. Once to silence a pinging BlackBerry. And eight times to chase my wife and assorted visitors around the house, to tell them I was holding one of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I’ve read in a very long time.
Writing with a novelist's artistry, a biologist's expertise, and the zeal of an investigative reporter, Skloot tells a truly astonishing story of racism and poverty, science and conscience, spirituality and family, all driven by a galvanizing inquiry into the sanctity of the body and the very nature of the life force.
añadido por sduff222 | editarBooklist, Donna Seaman(Dec 1, 2009)
Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in a “colored” hospital ward in Baltimore in 1951. She would have gone forever unnoticed by the outside world if not for the dime-sized slice of her tumor sent to a lab for research eight months earlier. ... Skloot, a science writer, has been fascinated with Lacks since she first took a biology class at age 16. As she went on to earn a degree in the subject, she yearned to know more about the woman, anonymous for years, who was responsible for those ubiquitous cells....
Henrietta Lacks wurde 1951 entsprechend der damaligen Standardtherapie mit Radium behandelt. Doch ihr Tumor ließ sich nicht mehr stoppen. Sie war 31 Jahre alt, als sie starb. Sie hinterließ fünf Kinder, der jüngste Sohn war damals ein Jahr alt. Weder Henrietta Lacks noch die Familienangehörigen wussten, dass ihre Zellproben fortan von der Forschung genutzt und für Experimente gebraucht wurden. Die HeLa-Zellen wurden in Labors weltweit benutzt und kamen auch bei der Entwicklung der ersten Polio-Impfung zum Einsatz. Für die Entwicklung von Medikamenten gegen Leukämie, Parkinson und Grippe wurden die Zellen eingesetzt, ebenso wie bei der Erforschung der In-vitro-Fertilisation. Dr. Gey, der die Zellkulturen damals anlegte, verdiente selbst kein Geld damit, doch die Zellen waren „kommerzialisiert“, so die New York Times. Heute ist es auch bei uns üblich, dass durch Firmen, teils auch durch spezielle Firmenneugründungen, zunehmend auch von WissenschaftlerInnen versucht wird, in unseren medizinischen Einrichtungen entwickelte Entdeckungen ganz nebenbei in persönliche Nebeneinkünfte umzuwandeln, indem sie sich ihre Entdeckungen patentieren lassen und nebenbei zu Unternehmern werden. Die HeLa-Zellen werden heute weltweit verkauft und erbringen Millionenprofite. Profitinteressen und Medizin kommen zunehmend in Interessenskonflikte.
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.
----Elie Wiesel from The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code
Dedicatoria
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
For my family:
My parents, Betsy and Floyd; their spouses, Terry and Beverly; my brother and sister-in-law, Matt and Renee; and my wonderful nephews, Nick and Justin. They all did without me for far too long because of this book, but never stopped believing in it, or me.
And in loving memory of my grandfather, James Robert Lee (1912-2003), who treasured books more than anyone I've known.
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
On January 29, 1951, David Lacks sat behind the wheel of his old Buick, watching the rain fall.
This is a work of non-fiction. (A Few Words About This Book)
There's a photo of a woman I've never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape. (Prologue)
When I tell people the story of Henrietta Lacks and her cells, their first question is usually Wasn't it illegal for doctors to take Henrietta's cells without her knowledge? Don't doctors have to tell you when they use your cells in research?
Citas
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
...But I always have thought it was strange, if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors? Don't make no sense. People got rich off my mother without us even knowin about them takin her cells, now we don't get a dime. I used to get so mad about that to where it made me sick and I had to take pills. But I don't got it in me no more to fight. I just want to know who my mother was. ----Deborah Lacks
When I tell people the story of Henrietta Lacks and her cells, the first question is usually Wasn't it illegal for doctors to take Henrietta's cells without her knowledge? Don't doctors have to tell you when they use your cells in research? The answer is no--not in 1951, and not in 2009, when this book went to press.
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
It's not only the story of HeLa cells and Henrietta Lacks, but of Henrietta's family - particularly Deborah - and their lifelong struggle to make peace with the existence of those cells, and the science that made them possible. (Prologue)
"I just hope Hopkins and some of the other folks who benefited off her cells will do something to honor her and make right with the family." (Afterword)
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
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Book Discussion: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ~ SPOILER FREE~
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