Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a true story about a poor black woman whose cells were taken from her without her consent, becoming an important tool in science. Through the use of research and storytelling, Skloot tells the story of the life of the woman who unknowingly donated her cells to science, greatly advancing the medical institution, while her family struggled to pay health insurance. Skloot tells the emotional story of the Lacks family, answers questions about the HeLa cell, addresses the racial and ethical issues in medicine, all while using storytelling and credibility in order to expose the truth about Henrietta Lacks and her cells.
Rebecca Skloot begins the novel by introducing the idea of the lack of rights for women of color to explain how Henrietta Lacks ended up being robbed of her cells for the use of science. Being a black woman living in Maryland in the 1950’s was not easy. Skloot explains that “when black people showed up at white-only hospitals, the staff was likely to send them away, even if it meant they might die in the parking lot” (15). Women like Henrietta faced issues like these daily. Racism during this time was expected and blacks were shut down and embarassed constantly. The author reveals how extreme racism and segregation was by explaining that doctors could care less if a black person was dying by refusing to treat them. Henrietta was fortunate enough to be able to drive to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which was built as a charity hospital for the sick and poor, and treated black patients in color segregated wards. At this hospital, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer and doctors attempted to treat her cancer with a series of radiation injections. Without realization, it caused more harm than help in the long run. Skloot researches Doctor George Gey and his motives for using Henrietta’s cells. Gey, like many other scientists, hoped to one day create immortal cells from tissue in the body. Without permission, Gey took a sample of Henrietta’s cervical cancer tumour tissue to culture it in the lab. Skloot writes “For decades the press had been reporting that cell culture was going to save the world from disease and make man immortal […] Scientists had been trying to grow living cells since before the turn of the century, but their samples had always died” (58). The doctors took Henrietta’s cells, cultured them, kept them immortal, and used them for science’s benefit, all while her and her family had no idea. Although this was a major impact in science and medicine, it did not help Henrietta’s family from their struggling lives. Henrietta’s cells may have saved many other’s lives, but science didn't recognize the one woman who made that possible. Skloot explains that Henrietta died a few months after her treatment, while her cells lived on, eventually being used all over the world including in medicine to cure diseases. The author uses backstory to reveal the way in which the doctors treated Henrietta, which exposes the disrespect and inequality towards all black women.
The author exposes the idea of inequity of patient care and segregation for the reader to understand how difficult life was for Henrietta as well as who she was as a person. Although Henrietta was a smart, strong, and determined woman, she knew best to not question her doctors, as it was not acceptable at the time. Skloot writes “this was a time when ‘benevolent deception’ was a common practice- doctors often withheld even the most fundamental information from their patients […] Doctors knew best, and most patients didn’t question that. Especially black patients in public wards. This was 1951 in Baltimore, segregation was law” (63). Henrietta was in extreme pain and wanted to tell the doctors how much pain she was in, despite how they treated her. The 1950’s was a time of segregation and inequality, and even when it came to ill patients on their deathbeds, the doctors had no rules or expectations on the treatment of black patients. Segregation being identified as law shows how extreme and serious it was at the time. Even in a moment of pain or discomfort, Henrietta was forced to stay silent if she wanted to remain being treated at the hospital, since questioning her doctors would have been seen as disrespectful. Skloot compares treatments of white and black women, and finds how a white patient would have been treated at the time, if they had the condition as Henrietta. “[…] several studies have shown that black patients were treated and hospitalized at later stages of their illness than white patients. And once hospitalized, they got fewer pain medications, and had higher mortality rates” (64). Even though Henrietta was in so much pain and discomfort, the doctors did not do as much as they could have to treat and even cure Henrietta’s cancer. All because of the color of Henrietta’s skin, the doctors did not prioritize her in the hospital even though she was painfully dying of cancer. Just because Henrietta wasn’t white, she was in more pain and had a higher chance of death than that of a white person. Skloot uses her research on the medical information at Hopkins Hospital to inform the reader about inequity and segregation of black patients during the 1950’s.
Storytelling is a large part of writing a successful work of narrative journalism. The author uses an example of Roland H. Berg, a press officer for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) who contacted George Gey due to his interest in the woman behind the HeLa cell in order to show the reader the importance of storytelling. After denying Berg of revealing Henrietta’s name, Berg writes back, “You do not engage the attention of the reader unless your story has basic human interest elements” (106), after wanting to publish an article about HeLa cells for a popular magazine. Skloot agrees, and suggests that a strong narrative that engages the reader can only be achieved if personal and emotional stories are used in order to make the author seem vulnerable and connect with their audience. She uses Berg’s opinion throughout the book by telling stories of her interviewing Henrietta’s family and doctors, as well as using stories from Henrietta’s family as if she experienced it first-hand herself. This plays into the novel’s nonlinear progression of the narrative, to give the reader background information and incorporation of storytelling in order to balance factual and storytelling elements of the author’s narrative journalism.
The author uses research and logic to present ethical issues in medicine. For Dr. Gey to have taken Henrietta’s cells without her consent was a large enough issue, but to use her cells and earn millions of dollars by creating medicine and new technology was even worse since her family had been living a difficult life. At the time Henrietta’s sample of her tissue was taken from her body, there were no official laws on needing the consent of the patient to use their body for experiments. A cancer researcher Chester Southam began experimenting on cancer patients without their knowledge. Skloot researched his practices and reveals that “[Southam] told them he was testing [the cancer patient's] immune systems; he said nothing about injecting them with someone else’s malignant cells” (128). Not very long after Henrietta’s cells became immortal, the scientist decided to do even worse research on cancer patients than what happened with Henrietta. The author proves that the ethical issues in medicine was a large factor in the reason why Henrietta’s cells were taken from her body without her consent. At the time, doctors around the world were doing experiments on patients that potentially led to death, while the patients had little knowledge on what the doctors were doing to them. This is the same thing that happened to Henrietta, leading to the reason why her family was still in poverty while her cells were being sold daily. Skloot researched the Nuremberg Code, which was before Henrietta was diagnosed with cancer, to find out if the doctors illegally used her body as research. She found “the tribunal set forth a ten-point code of ethics now known as the Nuremberg Code, which was to govern all human experimentation worldwide. The first line in that code says, ‘The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential’” (131). Although this was set in 1947, it was not considered a law, only a set of recommendations, therefore doctors thought they could ignore it. Considering the doctors basically had the right to take Henrietta’s cells makes it legally acceptable, but in the consideration of Henrietta’s basic rights, it reveals that the doctors were wrong, and should have told Henrietta and her family the truth about all her surgeries. The fact that they were ignoring the Nuremberg Code, made due to the terrible treatment of many people, shows that the doctors were desperate for fame and success, even if it meant the death of patients. Skloot ties this to her logical reasoning and research to develop her work of narrative nonfiction.
While Henrietta’s cells were being used in labs all over the world, benefitting many people from medicine to space, her family was living a life of difficulty and inequality. All of Henrietta’s children were raised by an abusive cousin and his wife, causing her three youngest children to grow up emotionally and physically scarred. Henrietta’s fifth child, Zakariyya, was abused the most, and told Skloot “Maybe her cells have done good for some people, but I woulda rather had my mother. If she hadn't been sacrificed, I mighta growed up to be a lot better person than I am now”(248). Zakariyya, having one of the most difficult lives of the Lacks family, grew to hate doctors when he learned about what happened to his mother. The author reveals that his life could have been different if science and medicine were more advanced at the time, possibly letting his mother overcome her cancer. Zakariyya was a tough man, but when it came to his mother, he was defensive and angry. He realized that because of science he never had a chance to meet his mother or even her cells, and instead found out during his adult life, the truth about what happened to his mother. Although Henrietta’s daughter also had a troubled life, she grew to wanting to know everything possible about her sister Elsie and her mother Henrietta. She admits, “Truth be told, I can't get mad at science, because it help people live, and I’d be a mess without it […] but I won't lie, I would like some health insurance so I don’t got to pay all that money every month for drugs my mother cells probably helped make” (256). Skloot shows the reader that each family member had different feelings and reactions about her mother’s cells and coped with the issue in different ways. This can tie into the author’s use of characterization for the reader to connect with the Lacks family. The reader can notice by the Lacks family’s grammar, they had very poor education due to living a very poor life. Even though the Lacks family has been poor since Henrietta was born, one would expect that her children and grandchildren would be recognized in medicine or be given money for her mother’s successfull cells. They have had to live a rough life, all because scientists as well as society was so heavily influenced with racism and used segregation. Throughout the narrative, Skloot tells the life of the Lacks family by giving the reader stories of the hardships of Henrietta and her family and revealing the issues of segregation and inequality towards people of color.
Rebecca Skloot tells the true story about a woman and her accidental donation to science. The narrative was told by a woman knowing nothing about Henrietta or her family, and grew to care deeply about them and felt sympathy towards the family, while not seeming against the side of science and medicine. She told Henrietta’s life story with storytelling and logic, and touched upon the racial issues in society and ethical issues in medicine. Skloot crafts her book in a way that the reader can know nothing about science and leave knowing so much about it, including information about the HeLa cells and how the scientists used them. The reader learns touching stories of the hard lives of the growing Lacks family over the years, and how science affects their lives. Because of the author, the Lacks family has been given the recognition they deserve and the respect Henrietta would have wanted.