The immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics. Essay: The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks 2022-10-23

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a nonfiction book written by Rebecca Skloot that tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman whose cells were taken without her knowledge and used to create the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa. This book raises a number of important ethical and moral issues related to medical research, informed consent, and the use of human tissue for scientific purposes. Some potential essay topics related to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks might include:

  1. The ethical implications of using Henrietta Lacks' cells without her knowledge or consent.

  2. The impact of Henrietta Lacks' cells on medical research and the development of treatments for diseases like cancer, AIDS, and polio.

  3. The role of race and class in the story of Henrietta Lacks, including the ways in which Henrietta and her family were treated by the medical establishment.

  4. The impact of the HeLa cell line on the Lacks family, including the financial and emotional toll it has taken on them.

  5. The broader ethical considerations surrounding the use of human tissue for scientific research, including issues related to informed consent and the ownership of human tissue.

  6. The role of science and technology in shaping our understanding of the human body and our place in the world.

  7. The importance of informed consent in medical research and the ways in which it can be ensured in practice.

  8. The role of the media in shaping the public's understanding of science and medical issues, including the way in which the story of Henrietta Lacks was covered.

  9. The ways in which the story of Henrietta Lacks can be used to start a broader conversation about the ethical and moral implications of medical research.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

Regularly securing permission for residual clinical samples in the study was a substantial departure from past practice Skloot, 2010. Learn more Nonmaleficence Henrietta was directly harmed because she was not fully informed about the risks and benefits of undergoing cancer treatments and participating in research and indirectly damaged due to the impact her treatment had on descendants. In the early 1951 Henrietta discovered a hard lump on the left of the entrance of her cervix, after having unexpected vaginal bleeding. The only reason it surfaced to the family was due to the fact that doctors wanted to further their research on the rest of her family and their cells. The book also explores the social and economic issues surrounding the use of Henrietta's cells. The purpose of literature is to move the reader. Ironically enough, doctors following this code may also feel that their patients should be withheld from certain information as it may not be beneficial.

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Essay: The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

Nonetheless, the central argument of the book is that the scientific community has an ethical obligation to respect the dignity, autonomy, and person-hood of all subjects and individuals with whom it comes into contact. After her first surgery and a few weeks into radiation treatments, my mother became gravely ill. Due to the scientific practices performed on Henrietta, we now have an name for this cell line, HeLa. These cells cut from her cervix just month before she died. Personally, I understand the motives behind benefitting the future of science and humanity, but I am uncomfortable with the idea of taking my own tissue without consent. Deborah did not have the knowledge to understand the demands or requests the doctors made of her, and the doctors did not inform her explicitly. Another pivotal point within the book, was when the doctor did not tell Henrietta about the tissue samples.

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Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

Therefore, you can see how the scientific Henrietta Lacks: An Analysis 624 Words 3 Pages Part two of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, once again submerges the reader in to the world of HeLa cells. The Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation were enacted until 1965. Henrietta Lacks Discussion Questions 700 Words 3 Pages Participation Portfolio 1 Asst 3: Henrietta Lacks Discussion Questions Please answers each of the following questions, and be prepared to discuss in class 1. Human innovation has made more leaps in the past hundred years than ever before in human history, but many of the ideas and values western society runs on have fundamental roots in much earlier societies. The thought of enjoying a book that, at its core, is about medical research did not occur to me. She was at the Hopkins Hospital as it was the only hospital during her time that could treat people of color. But after her x-ray therapy, she became very ill and her skin was all burned.

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Sample Argumentative Essays On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

It deals with many topics such as sensationalism in science, scientific accessibility, and the importance of scientific education. What type of cancer was Henrietta diagnosed with? Having said that, since Skloot had an advantage of receiving a full education, I believe she knowingly used her privilege and skin color against the Lacks family. This also shines a light on the fact that their people who work in the medical field who do not feel any sense of guilt or any other negative emotions from the practices they use. They thought part of Henrietta, as in Henrietta herself not the cells, were still alive Schloot, 2010. One may argue that the methods utilized in collecting cells without consent was important because without them we would not be where we are today in the science and medical field. One of the main reasons she was concerned is that she was bleeding outside of her menstrual cycle. It further goes to tell the audience how Henrietta altered medicine unknowingly.

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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay Outline

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

The Change In Medical Ethics In Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks 5. This small snippet of information already establishes Gey as a man who will do whatever it takes to further science. Scientific sensationalism does not just water down the conversation surrounding important issues, it can make them The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. How does structural racism affect the lives of the Lacks family? The demand for these rights or to the legacy of the discoveries made by the Lacks family is unethical. Similar to Morgan, once Skloot was able to contact the Lacks family, she kept their unique Southern language as well as other characters to preserve the honesty in their words; however, in her text, it is evident where we see this rebound on Skloot. Lacks got cancer in 1951. All of these situations Tomcik Case Study 785 Words 4 Pages After reading this case I was terribly shocked about the fact that something like this could happen in our medical history.


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Essay On The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

Basically, the two sides that differentiate medical practices are normative ethics and mortality. Discriminatory Practices Against African Americans In Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks 6. Morgan persuaded her grandmother, Daisy, to share stories of their family history as Indigenous Australians. When Susan Hsu asked to come to draw blood, the family thought they wanted to test the children to see if they got that cancer that killed Henrietta. At that time, none of the jurisprudence clarified whether a person owns his tissues and whether he has the right to control them.


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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Presence of Racism 4. Before dying, a doctor cut out small cancer cells. We have one person to thank for this: an African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks. In April of 1951, she underwent surgery to remove the larger tumor on her cervix. What literary devices are employed the most in the story? This passage made me feel unsettled due to the fact that there were multiple doctors who had no remorse after injecting innocent patients with the cancer cell without any consent.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

Henrietta Lacks was a key component behind the groundbreaking discoveries that changed the history of science and medicine forever. She was hospitalized and struggled to even sit up in bed, every day became a battle for her. In addition, in 1951, there was no law requiring physicians to inform patients that they were using their cells, and no informed consent was required to store blood and tissue for research purposes. Skloot writes this book for several different reasons and one of those reasons is to explain the medical methodology behind cancer research in a straightforward manner. I do believe that because of the Jim Crow Laws that were enacted played a huge barrier as to how African American people were treated in healthcare due to their lack of education, poverty rate, lack of money, and their low socioeconomic status. Skloot gives information about medicine in order to help the readers understand the value of Henrietta Lacks and her contribution to the medical community.


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56 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Topic Ideas to Write about & Essay Samples

the immortal life of henrietta lacks essay topics

Key Idea 1: The Anatomy of Cells Today, science textbooks everywhere are filled with the anatomy and structure of cells. Because of this, doctors withheld a lot of information, and they took the sliver from her without her consent and supposedly never told her about it. Eventually Skloot found herself deeply involved in research about Henrietta …show more content… Joe was extremely violent and Deborah was in an abusive relationship, early on in her life. If the story was written in a chronological Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta lacks by Rebecca Skloot, it discusses the many people that contributed to create the legacy of Henrietta's cells. Finally, if I had discovered that my tissue has been removed without my knowledge, I would feel taken back in trusting my physician. Critical Analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta. It is important for people to look at the bigger picture, as opposed to looking at it from a personal point of view.

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