The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Quotes (chapter 1)

Notable Quotes from Chapter 1

"But I always have thought it was strange, if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors?"(pg9) --Deborah Lacks
The readers of this book will wonder the same thing. How can doctors use Henrietta's cells as a hero of medicine when the doctors let her family suffer? It seems that the doctors are more interested in what the cells can do for them in terms of money and breakthrough, rather than the ethical codes of fair compensation. The fact that the Lack's are black may have imposed on the doctors that the family would not know that they should be compensated, so they did not bother to do so.

"She was afraid a doctor would take her womb and make her stop having children" (pg 14).
For somebody to care more about their ability to have children than their likeliness to live from a potentially deadly disease, Henrietta must be in extreme economic desperation, considering that having children at the time was mainly to assist families on the farm. She should have immediately sought help instead of worrying about their financial standing.

"She led her through a door to a colored-only exam room" (pg 15).
The hospital segregates between races. As a place that is expected to give equal care to all patients in today's society, it is appalling that the situation in Henrietta's time was discriminatory. Knowing this, it is understandable why Henrietta disliked going to her appointments at the hospital; it is just too unwelcoming.

"This was the era of Jim Crow--when black people showed up at white-only hospitals, the staff was likely to send them away, even if it meant they might die in the parking lot" (pg 15).
Despite this book seeming to be mainly about an medicine miracle, I sense there to be a great emphasis on race. This quote confirms my suspicions; how could Henrietta get proper medical attention when the white doctors are comfortable treating black patients and black patients are uncomfortable being treated by the white doctors? The racial tension may have also affected medical ethics as well.

". . . here she was, three months later, with a full-fledged tumor. Either her doctors had missed it during her last exams--which seemed possible--or it had grown at a terrifying rate" (pg 17).
If Henrietta could palpitate her tumor without any medical experience or struggle in general, then there are ulterior reasons for why they allowed the tumor to grow at extreme rates. Perhaps they did not want to treat her because of her race, or perhaps they wanted her to die and then use her body for study. The reasons are unknown but this gives insight to the readers to not trust the doctors. On the other hand, Henrietta's tumor growth was unforeseen. It is obvious that her cells are extraordinary.