The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I read this book too, and as a working scientist I can say it had an interesting premise. There are moral issues raised, but not answered in the book. I also believe that perhaps this should have been a series of articles rather than a book.

The author spends a LOT of time explaining the difficulties she had gaining interviews and honest information from the family of Mrs. Lacks. Fair enough I suppose, but that was more a story than that of Mrs. Lacks.

Spoiler:

Mrs. H. Lacks was a black woman with a limited education. She married her philandering 1st cousin and had several children by him, also several bouts of syphillus from the same husband.

Over a long period of time she was treated at a John Hopkins hospital in a program that gave free treatment to the black citizens of their community.

They found a tumor on her cervix and just prior to treatment they took a sample of the tumor. The scientist who took the sample found that the cells were distinct. They lived in culture.(as someone who has to keep cell cultures alive - even today this isn't easy!) This was a huge breakthrough in period of time when American medicine was trying to learn to treat viral diseases (polio etc).

The cells from this tumor were a godsend to the scientists and many valuable contributions to health care were made utilizing the cells from this tumor.

The scientist who took the cells from the surgeon did not sell the cells, he sent them to hospitals and clinics around the world, unselfishly sharing this opportunity to work with the cells that could save the lives of millions. He never made money from the cells.

The cells were later copyrighted by a company and are sold for about $25 a vial as a research tool today.

The question asked in the book is whether Mrs. Lacks was taken advantage of, whether her human rights were abused. i.e. did she give permission for her cells to be used.

The author never really answers this question. As far as some of her family are concerned, no.

There are other smaller questions as - is the continuation of research, where scientists would reach out to the family of Mrs. Lacks, take samples and as far as the author is concerned, they were not clear with the family as to why this was necessary or if it would be beneficial to the family.

I am delighted that the information is available to the public, but I think this should have been a chapter or two in a medical ethics book, not a book entire.

The use of Mrs.Lacks' cells is a tiny infringement compared to what was done to many many many people in the 40's and 50's.

A book that really points out some nasty episodes in medical research history would be Polio, by David Oshinsky.

Gosh, what a long answer. Sorry! I just think the book is overrated.

I know I'm going out on a limb here, but I think that Mimsy and Jacqui are rather passionate about this book (both in a positive a negative way) and not only that, they may actually know a thing or two about the subject. I think I'll look into this book since it prompts such an emotive response..

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Added bonus: no vampires