he Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
(Chapter 2, 3, & 4)
Read Chapters 2, 3 & 4. Please answer the following:
Chapter 2
1. What are the connotations of the term “home-house”? What does this term suggest about the values of the Lacks family?
2. Contrast the working conditions of black workers and white workers at the Sparrows Point Steel Mill.
Chapter 3
3. How did doctors justify using patients in public hospital wards as medical research subjects without obtaining their consent or offering them financial compensation? Do
you agree or disagree with their reasoning? Explain your answer.
4. Analyze the consent statement that Henrietta signed on page 31 (please search in pdf file). Based on this statement, do you believe TeLinde and Guy had the right to obtain a sample from her cervix to use in their research?
Chapter 4
5. Based on the descriptions of Gey found on pages 38-39 (please search in pdf file), offer three adjectives that best describe his personality
6. What is the implication of the author’s decision to use the term “birth” to describe the initial growth of HeLa cells?