The immortal life of Henriette Lacks

Description:

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. This New York Times bestseller takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers filled with HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of. ([source][1]) [1]: http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/

subjects: Cancer,  Cell culture,  Research,  Patients,  Health,  HeLa cells,  African American women,  Medical ethics,  Human experimentation in medicine,  Biography,  History,  Lacks, Henrietta, -- 1920-1951 -- Health,  Cancer -- Patients -- Virginia -- Biography,  African American women -- History,  Human experimentation in medicine -- United States -- History,  Cancer -- Research,  Health and hygiene,  Tissue Donors,  Patienter,  Forskning,  Cancerpatienter,  Zellkultur,  History, 20th Century,  Historia,  Medicinska experiment på människor,  Ethics,  Cellodling,  African Americans,  Afro-amerikanskor,  Medicinsk teknik,  Cells,  Medicinhistoria,  Prejudice,  Hälsa,  HeLa-Zelle,  Human Experimentation,  Confidentiality,  Etik,  MEDICAL / Ethics,  Tissue and Organ Procurement,  Medizinische Ethik,  Cytologie,  Afro-amerikanska kvinnor,  medicine,  science,  cervical cancer,  radiation,  effects of radiation,  polio,  vaccination,  Biography & Autobiography,  Nonfiction,  Sociology,  New York Times bestseller,  nyt:combined_print_nonfiction=2012-03-03,  MEDICAL,  University of South Alabama,  Reading Level-Grade 11,  Reading Level-Grade 12,  Cancer, patients, biography,  Cancer, research,  Human experimentation in medicine, history,  African americans, biography,  Large type books,  New York Times reviewed,  Medical (incl. Patients),  Cultural, Ethnic & Regional,  General,  HEALTH & FITNESS,  Diseases,  44.01 history of medicine,  44.02 philosophy and ethics of medicine,  Bioethics,  Blacks,  Human genetics,  Neoplasms,  Translational Medical Research,  Informed Consent,  Research Ethics,  Cell Line,  SOCIAL SCIENCE,  HeLa-cellen,  Bio-ethiek,  Zwarten,  Antropogenetica,  Universidad Sergio Arboleda

People: Henrietta Lacks,  Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951)

Places: United States,  Förenta staterna,  USA,  Virginia