The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Whether you are a doctor, lawyer or just have a beating heart, you must read this book. At a minimum, it is a fascinating intersection of medicine and law and, at a maximum, it is one of the best books ever written regarding the intersection of science and humanity.
Without giving too much away, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks focuses on HeLa cells, which are arguably more fundamental to doctors than the ABC’s. These cells originated from a tumor biopsy from Henrietta Lacks’ cervix in 1951. Without her family’s knowledge, her cultured cells grew to infamy and ubiquity by (i) being the first human cells to sustain outside the body, and (ii) replicating at an astounding rate. With the combination of (i) and (ii), the modern cell-production industry was born. You might call Mrs. Lacks the mother of cellular research and its evolution into genetic research.
The book is fantastic in that it objectively explores the areas of medical ethics, patient consent, privacy, race and lawsuits relating to all of the foregoing. The author, Rebecca Skloot, not a doctor or lawyer, weaves all this together elegantly by bringing to the forefront the Lacks family and their human struggles. It is a book written from the “ground-up” and it does not attempt to be scientifically lofty or ethically preachy. Ms. Skloot just lets the facts – supported by her thorough academic and personal research – speak for themselves.
As many of you know, I’m a big reader. And, every so often, you find a book where you finish the last page, close the cover (or these days shut off the Kindle) and simply say, “Wow.” This is one of those books.
Thank you Ms. Skloot for a responsible, thoughtful and simply beautiful book. We know who to turn to when it is time to write Avvo’s story. :-)
Mark
February 16th, 2012 at 6:28 am
this book was very interstng to read i still use her cells in my bio. medical class :)