Betty led a much-diminished group's discussion of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. For all of you who missed it, here are the highlights!
Betty's first discussion question was if anything surprised us about the book? (Talk about opening a can of worms, Betty!) Kristie was surprised by the revelation of what constituted standard research practice in the 1950s, and we all had to agree with that. We were all also surprised that tumors, biopsies, blood and other tissue removed from your body is stored indefinitely and may be used for research at any time in the future, and that once it leaves your body you are not considered its possessor and generally give up any claim to monetary gain as a result of research using your "donation".
Betty loved how Skloot wove medical history, and personal history into one account. We all agreed Skloot's technique was incredible, and that in addition to being exhaustively, patiently researched, Skloot's pacing and character building made this read like a fiction book--although probably no one would have believed it if were fiction! Kristie and Kathleen both listened to the audio version of this book, and felt this greatly enhanced the author's method of interweaving personal and medical history.
Would this have happened if Henrietta had been white? Kristie and Shirley thought not, but Betty and Kathleen thought yes. Kathleen pointed out that this was, after all, just another in a long line of examples of questionable ethics on the part of researchers and medical companies. Betty reminded us that the Lacks family was not prone to question "authority", and continued to grant permission for researchers to study samples taken from Henrietta's descendants even after they learned the initial samples had been taken without Henrietta's permission. Kristie mentioned that she continued to be disturbed by the accounts of racism we have encountered in the various books we have read, and wondered at its prevalence.
Next month's meeting will be hosted by Janet on Saturday, May 4, to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.
No comments:
Post a Comment