Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

The average human body is worth about one million dollars when it is donated for scientific use (Hamilton). With this being said, there is no doubt that people feel entitled to being paid for contributing to mankind, especially when what is being given is part of their body. In Rebecca Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, there is a great example that regards receiving compensation. Henrietta’s relatives believe they are deserving of some money made from the research done with her cells. Emotions aside, the Lacks family should not receive compensation for Henrietta’s contribution to medical research. The recognition of Henrietta Lacks was nonexistent until the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was written …show more content…
Henrietta’s body or well-being was not put at risk in order to get the tumor and tissue samples. Instructed by Dr. Gey, “Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta’s cervix” (Skloot 33). After this, it is obvious that Henrietta’s role in the medical progression was exceptionally short because all she did was donate her tissue just like any other donor. As for the scientists and doctors, they had to go through the process of trial and error daily, research for an extensive amount of time, and stress. Dr. Gey and his colleagues especially took on this challenge. He and his wife, Margaret, had spent the last 30 years working to grow malignant cells outside the body, hoping to use them to find a cure for cancer (Skloot 30). Dr. Gey was not the only scientist experiencing this, all of the other researchers duties to medical advancements were extremely crucial, unlike Henrietta’s. Over all, the scientists and doctors were the people who actually made great sacrifices throughout their lives because of experimenting on Henrietta’s