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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

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When I was thirteen years old, I knew I wanted to go into the medical field. Personally, I felt that that was my passion: to help people. Last year, while I was looking at the course catalog, I saw the words Ethics: Law, Business, and Medicine. Once I saw “medicine,” I put the class as my number one choice. Once I found out we were going to read “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” I was interested but didn’t know how it could help me in the future. As we began to read it, I became intrigued with the Lacks’ life rather than the science behind the cells. (This is going to be a little backstory before I explain how this book impacted me.) This past summer, I started to volunteer at Kapiolani Medical Center in the Patient’s Playroom. My …show more content…

I realized that I became more focused on the patient’s rather than my own personal gain. Then, one day, it hit me. As we were reading about Henrietta’s treatment as a patient, I was infuriated at the fact that these doctors and scientists weren’t giving Henrietta and her family the treatment, recognition, money, health-care, and equality they deserved. Even though I couldn’t imagine the hardship their family went through, I put my foot into the patient’s shoes. Reading about the pain and poverty Henrietta’s family went through, after her death, I kept thinking that if the doctors treated Henrietta equally, there could’ve been a chance of her survival. As I volunteered and continued to read, I began to see the kids I played with differently. I didn’t just see them for their disease or complications, but I saw their heart, and the joy they felt just by doing simple things. I started to imagine their families and wondered what they might be going through, having a child live in a hospital. I kept remembering how confused and misled the Lacks’ family was with the health care system, and even though, I’m not a doctor, I hoped the best for the patient’s well-being and their

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