Thirteen Ways of Looking at Henrietta Lacks

Instead of seeing “...simply what is there” John D. Lantos presents the different perspectives of the biologically and culturally immortal life of Henrietta (Lantos1). As Lantos points out, “the facts don’t necessarily speak for themselves”, and the issues that arose from the use of Henrietta’s cells without her knowledge or consent can be seen from many different angles (2). The first argument that Lantos presents is the idea of Skloot’s success stemming from her novel written about Henrietta’s life coupled with the scientific advances being made from her cells, as just as invasive and exploitative as the act of removing the cells and using them without consent. Skloot made available to the public an inside look at the personal details of Henrietta's and Henrietta’s family member’s lives. Personal stories of domestic abuse, criminal records, health issues and mental illness were relinquished by the Lacks family to be used by Skloot in her novel. Although there was a degree of consent in this collection of information from the Lacks family, their family history is now “an open narrative for public consumption”, just as the cells were openly available for scientific consumption. Pairing intimate details of the Lack’s story with the trajectory of the scientific advances made possible by HeLa proved to add insightful human and emotional value to the cell’s use and possible exploitation. Henrietta’s name was openly used to identify the cells after years of their use, even though she was never asked if this information could be released, and now, after Skloot’s novel, her family’s history of a fight for stability is in plain sight for the world to see. I am left wondering how much profit, if any the family received from the novel that succeeded due to the release of their confidential information, and if they will benefit from the film that Oprah is making based on their story.