Analysis of Henrietta Lacks

HeLa cells have changed human cell research, and as a direct result, the entire medical field. HeLa cells originated from a poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks, whose cancerous cells were taken without consent. The world seemed to be fixed on HeLa, but not the person responsible, because of this Rebecca Skloot set out on a mission to find out the history behind the cells and make the information known. In Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca exhibits some bias in the way she reported the scientists as well as the inclusion of herself in the novel.

Rebecca’s method of reporting Dr. Gey’s cell culture research skews the opinion of the reader to make Gey seem to have an obsession toward his cell research, hell-bent on finding an immortal cell. Skloot shifts to the perspective of Gey’s assistant Mary Kubicek as the doctor gives her a new sample to take care of. Gey addresses her about the sample but “Mary pretended not to notice. Not again, she thought, and kept eating her sandwich. It can wait till I’m done . . . Why bother?” (Skloot 35). Skloot’s interpretation of Mary’s thoughts make Gey appear overly attached to his cell culture experiments, making him seen crazed with passion. Since Rebecca’s description puts the doctor in a bad light, her report of the matter seems to be biased against him. Skloot also makes generalizations towards the doctor:

There’s no indication that Henrietta questioned him; like most patients in the 1950s, she deferred to anything her doctors said. This was a time when “benevolent deception” was a common practice ─ doctors often withheld even the most fundamental information from their patients, sometimes not giving them any diagnosis at all. (63)

It can clearly be seen that Rebecca’s description of doctors the time is thrust upon Dr. Gey, although she holds no solid evidence against him for her accusation. Skloot also revolves around a theme of informed consent, whether Gey had permission to take...