Rebecca Skloot: The Story of HeLa

i just finished reading  rebecca skloot's book called the immortal life of henrietta lacks. what starts out as a book about a poor black woman with cervical cancer in the early 1950's morphs into a book about medical ethics. 

henrietta lacks was 31 years old and died of cervical cancer. cells were removed from her tumor without her knowledge or consent . these cells grew into a group of cells called HeLa  that have been instrumental in finding a cure for polio, in  developing cloning and in-vitro fertilization. eventually doctors made a lot of money due to henrietta lacks' cells. meanwhile poor henrietta died at 31 leaving 5 motherless children who still can't afford to have health insurance.

black people were a large target for medical experiments that were given without the patient's consent, however they were by no means the only victims of non consensual medical treatments , tests or use of  tissues. often late stage cancer patients were injected with cancer cells to 'see what the effects would be' without the knowledge or consent of the patients. 

in 1963 there was a dr. chester southam who wanted doctors at a hospital to inject healthy patients 

with cancerous HeLa cells to see what would happen. at the time there were three jewish doctors who refused to do this  stating the nuremburg code which was created after the nuremberg trials. one is not allowed to get benefit from nazi doctors experiments on jewish prisoners. these three doctors resigned from the hospital not without informing reporters of the plot. dr. southam was suspended from the hospital and the experiment was stopped. 

this is not just a book filled with medical jargon. it also tells the story of henrietta lacks the person as well as the lives of her family. 

i highly recommend this book.