The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

In 1951, a black woman named Henrietta Lacks was treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins. She died very quickly from the disease, but during treatment researcher George Gey biopsied her tumor without her or her family’s knowledge and was able to reproduce the cells in culture. Known as the HeLa line of cells, they became “immortal” and have been used around the world in scientific research for decades.

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot tells the human story of these cells. It’s a compelling, if not an easy, read. Henrietta left behind a husband and five children, none of whom learned till twenty years later that their mother’s cells had survived and were being used. This is the story of their family history, marked by tragedy, but exhibiting an enduring bond and strength of spirit too.

It’s a story of the slow development of conscience in the American medical community as well. One might think the Nuremberg trials and the Hippocratic Oath define obviously ethical behavior when it comes to medical experimentation and respect for human beings, but this book suggests that it has taken time for the field to rise to the level of its ideals. To read it is to face legal and ethical questions: How much do patients have a right to know? Who owns tissue, once it’s removed from your body? To the extent that cell culture has become an industry, who should profit?

As a racial story, this book exposes the politics of white and black, the communication issues between groups, and the breadth of the socioeconomic gap. In that sense it becomes a story of justice, as Henrietta’s family discover their roots and finally are acknowledged. But there is no feel-good ending. I closed the book with the sense that we have a long way to go. There are aspects of this tale that are disturbing or incomplete, achingly so. But as a critique of science interwoven with the more personal story of a family history, it’s a very readable, compassionate, truthful book. In fact, it’s an offering on behalf of human decency, one I read with gratitude to its author for having the courage to write it.