Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I learned so much from this book. While medical ethics have improved since the days when Henrietta Lack's cells were taken without her knowledge, I don't think most people know what their rights are with regards to their cells and tissue. I certainly didn't until Skloot laid them out. I also had no idea what Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells have done for medicine.

While this is a compilation of the science behind the cells and what they've done for modern medicine, Skloot also tells the story of Henrietta and her family. She presents Henrietta to us as a person, which is how it should be. The doctors who used HeLa cells didn't see her as a person, they just saw cells and cultures, they forgot that she was an actual person with a family. Unfortunately, given the time that Henrietta lived in the color of her skin meant that she didn't get adequate medical care and when she did go to the hospital doctors took advantage of the opportunity to study her cells. My heart broke so many times for the wrongs done to Henrietta and her cells. Learning the hardships her children faced after her death was so sad. The Lacks children weren't the only people impacted by medical ethics injustices, and I was angered to learn how some of our modern "cures" have come about.

I wish the Lacks family could have gotten some sort of reparations for all of their suffering, but I understand how the legality of their situation doesn't allow for that. I guess I'm thankful for what HeLa has done for medicine, but I sure do wish the Henrietta and her family had received better treatment both personally and medically. This was a great telling of the Lacks family history, the evolution of HeLa, and medicine in general. I really enjoyed this.

On a side note, Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin did an amazing job with the narration of the audio book.

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