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A review by hevleary
海拉細胞的不死傳奇 by Rebecca Skloot
5.0
As a medic just starting a new position in research I felt now was the right time to read this book which had been on my to-read list for years.
The books tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor African-American lady in the 1950s who developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer. Unbeknown to her, cells were taken from her during investigation and treatment which become the 1st cells to survive and grow in cell culture. They went on to become the almost ubiquitous cell line HeLa which has been used in thousands of research projects since.
Henrietta died leaving a devastated young family to grow up with much suffering along the way. This book tells their story as well as what little is known about Henrietta and provides a fascinating look into their difficult lives and is an interesting piece of social commentary.
The family found out about the HeLa cells many years on and due to a lack of understanding were understandable very upset at the thought of their mothers cells being out there, still growing. The main problem, to me, was the total lack of explanation to the family or no attempt to seek consent. Personally, I don't think there was any ethical problem with using the cells but the lack of empathy towards the family is where the problems arose.
The book also discusses the history of cell culture and delves into the development of research ethics as a concept. The values we base trials and research on have evolved from the issues discussed in this book and this is hugely important to maintaining trust with the public and medical researchers so drugs and treatments can continue to be developed.
This book makes you think. It makes you want to discuss medical ethics. It makes me eternally grateful to the researchers, who even if they didn't go about things as we would now, worked tirelessly to develop cell culture which is a foundation of so much medical knowledge. Lastly, it makes me want to thank Henrietta Lacks
The books tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor African-American lady in the 1950s who developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer. Unbeknown to her, cells were taken from her during investigation and treatment which become the 1st cells to survive and grow in cell culture. They went on to become the almost ubiquitous cell line HeLa which has been used in thousands of research projects since.
Henrietta died leaving a devastated young family to grow up with much suffering along the way. This book tells their story as well as what little is known about Henrietta and provides a fascinating look into their difficult lives and is an interesting piece of social commentary.
The family found out about the HeLa cells many years on and due to a lack of understanding were understandable very upset at the thought of their mothers cells being out there, still growing. The main problem, to me, was the total lack of explanation to the family or no attempt to seek consent. Personally, I don't think there was any ethical problem with using the cells but the lack of empathy towards the family is where the problems arose.
The book also discusses the history of cell culture and delves into the development of research ethics as a concept. The values we base trials and research on have evolved from the issues discussed in this book and this is hugely important to maintaining trust with the public and medical researchers so drugs and treatments can continue to be developed.
This book makes you think. It makes you want to discuss medical ethics. It makes me eternally grateful to the researchers, who even if they didn't go about things as we would now, worked tirelessly to develop cell culture which is a foundation of so much medical knowledge. Lastly, it makes me want to thank Henrietta Lacks