Immortal In More Ways Than One

Like mom, I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the story was an interesting one and one that needed to be told. I wish that there had been more information about Henrietta herself because her story is the one I found the most interesting but I know that that is nearly impossible. I was saddened by the way that she died and how much pain she must have been in. The story of the cells and the way they have shaped and changed the medical world was also very fascinating. I learned a lot about the medical research community that I did not know before. The book really made me think about the issue of who owns bodily tissue once it is removed and what kind of practical solution to this problem could be found.

I think that the main problem is not that the Lacks family did not receive money from her cells, but that there was no consent gained in the first place. Like the author mentions, back then there would have been no way for the Lacks family to gain from the cells monetarily, and now it is much too late. I was shocked to find that even today patients do not have rights to their tissues and the money that can be gained from science using them. It is because of these issues that I find this book to be more interesting in the ethical discussions it raises. What do doctors have to tell you and when? If all of us had the rights to every single one of our cells how would that change the face of science? It feels like people might try to exploit that right just the way doctor's exploited Henrietta. I appreciated this book because of the difficult issues it raises and its refusal to give easy answers.

Now for some bad news. Even though I thought the story was important I thought that the author may have been able to tell it better at certain points. The beginning half of the book was really engaging for me, however it seemed as though the author found it difficult to weave in the stories of Deborah into that previous narrative. This was the author's first book and it I feel that was very apparent; which is to say that is seemed a bit unorganized at times. But, all in all I found it enjoyable and much better than the first two books we had chosen for this club. I am looking forward to the next one!