the immortal life of henrietta lacks chapter summary

No other reporter showed interest in the family or continued to press on after the first no. She had perseverance and went every step of the mile to speak with the family. Furthermore, even after initially being rejected by the family, Skloot continued to press on and try to contact the family. Skloot was the first to say she wanted to tell the story about the woman behind the cells and give Henrietta the credit she deserves. Every time a reporter called the Lacks it was always concerning the HeLa cells. Skloots only concern is learning everything she can about Henrietta and writing a story about her. The family treats Rebecca Skloot so differently because she is not concerned about the HeLa cells whatsoever. As he said “normal cells didn’t become cancerous, they were simply taken over by HeLa cells.” No cell was actually spontaneously transformed, thus throwing out the theory.Ģ1. Gartler’s findings completely destroyed the spontaneous transformation theory. It meant that scientists were testing HeLa cells over and over again. This meant that any research done on other cell cultures in the same lab as the HeLa cells were not valid. He found that HeLa could travel through the air, enter a cell culture, and completely take over. Gartler found that the HeLa cells were contaminating cell cultures. Spontaneous transformation referred to the random transformation of a cell culture without the addition of any agents. I surmise that he was a sick who enjoyed playing God and found pleasure in causing suffering and hoping for death.Ģ0. Skloot suggests that he hid the truth because many of his subjects 'might have refused to participate.' The quantity of subjects in his study seems far beyond what would have been necessary, even if such study had not been repugnant. is in the best tradition of responsible clinical practice.' He may as well have hooked up his victims to a suicide machine and told them the button only calls a nurse. Later, he relied on the excuse that using the word 'cancer' because 'he didn't want to cause any unnecessary fear.' He also stated that, 'To withhold such emotionally disturbing but medically nonpertinent details. He already knew that some patients had developed metastasized tumors continuing to do to was to deliberately administer poison to see which patients died. On some level, he believed this, but it seemed more like a rationalization. Reply DeleteĬhapter 17: When he began injecting gynecologic surgery patients without informing them of the nature of the injections, he sometimes told them he was testing them for cancer. She was confused and struggling with positive and negative roles feelings she had for Galen. On the other hand, he flipped the roles when he treated young Deborah as an adult, inappropriate physical behavior and language towards Deborah. He, at one point, was the fatherly figure she never had from Day that showered her with gifts and bought her other items a dad would provide for his daughter. Her ambivalence towards Galen played a role in her molestation because of different roles he displayed towards her. She wants to steer clear of Galen, but at the same time she felt that he played a fatherly role in her life. She felt that fatherly feel for Galen that she was not receiving or feeling for/ from her own father. She was terrified of Galen because of what he was doing to her, but she felt that Galen was one of the few people in her life who cared about her. While reading this chapter one definitely gets a sense of Deborah's ambivalence in her feelings about Galen. With Galen’s switched attitudes towards Deborah, it may have been difficult for Deborah to finally not be hesitant about her relationship with Galen. One minute Galen is treating Deborah like she’s his daughter, and the next minute Galen is treating 12 year old Deborah like a grown woman. Deborah also understood that if she spoke about Galen touching her to an adult, no one would believe her, or someone (Bobbette) would believe her and go to jail for killing Galen.ĭeborah’s ambivalence to Galen played a role in her molestation because of Galen’s different attitudes he would have towards Deborah. Deborah knew in her heart that it wasn’t right for Galen to touch her inappropriately. At the time of Deborah’s encounters with Galen, she was a young girl-naïve to much of the world. For one, in the Lacks family, it has become a custom for cousins to “have their way with each other”. Firstly, it would seem normal, in Deborah’s situation, for her to feel somewhat uncertain about the relationship she has with her family. Chapter 15: Do you get a sense of Deborah's ambivalence in her feelings about Galen? How did that play a role in her molestation?Īnyone reading this chapter can get a sense of Deborah’s ambivalence towards Galen, her cousin.

The immortal life of henrietta lacks chapter summary