Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Analysis

Disease has always been man’s number one predator. Even with sophisticated technology, our loved ones still pass away due to natural diseases. Scientific discovery helps catalyze the combat against these diseases to improve the quality of life. In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, author Rebecca Skloot effectively shows how medical professionals develop scientific discoveries to cure diseases all over the world by emphasizing their effort. Skloot also effectively signifies how Henrietta didn’t complain about the medical treatment that she received, but rather was happy with the resources available to her. First of all, Skloot exemplifies how Henrietta’s (Doctors) were hard working and put in a great amount of effort into preserving the first immortal cells. Skloot signifies this when describing their backgrounds and more importantly, how serious the Doctors were at cultivating her cells. Skloot introduces a character name Margaret, who was a hard working assistant doctor. This quote proves that she is- “She hired a local woman named Minnie whose sole job was washing the laboratory glassware using the only product Margaret would allow Gold Dust
Skloot emphasizes this when she mentions David, Henrietta’s husband, driving her to the hospital in this quote: “David drove Henrietta nearly twenty miles to get [to Hopkins], not because they preferred it, but because it was the only major hospital for miles that treated black patients. This was the era of Jim Crow—when black people showed up at white-only hospitals, the staff was likely to send them away, even it if meant they might die in the parking lot.” (Skloot, 15) This tells us most blacks during the time were happy with the treatment they received and didn’t worry about consent when it came to doctors collecting tissues and samples because in the end they were happy to get