Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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Diagnosis and Treatment

In Chapter Three of ‘Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’, Rebecca Skloot’s, main character is Henrietta. She regularly visits Johns Hopkins Hospital for her routine checkup after being diagnosed with cervical cancer. The main focus is about her visit to Hopkins, as well as her Physician, and his boss, TeLinde known as Uncle Dick. He is one of the country’s top cervical cancer experts. Henrietta has Cervical Epidermoid Carcinoma, which is at its initial Stage. There are two types of carcinomas and occur as ether non –invasive or invasive .TeLinde is continuously seeking quest for Henrietta’s prognosis and treatment of cervical carcinoma (Skloot, 2010).

This paper seeks to present the life of Henrietta, who seeks to find treatment for cervical cancer, after being diagnosed.

Diagnosing and treating carcinoma has been an uphill task. Luckily, in 1941, an article in Papanicolaou introduces the ‘Pap smear’ test, which diagnoses in situ carcinoma.

There are two challenges of the Pap’s smear. Many women do not go for testing and interpretation of results by doctors is often inaccurate. TeLinde publishes what cervical cancer is and urges surgeons to verify results with biopsies (Skloot, 2010).

According to Skloot, doctors working in public wards, including TeLinde, carry out research, without the knowledge of the patients. Since they are receiving free treatment, it is justified to use them as payment for treatment. Jones and TeLinde have proof that 62% of women with invasive cancer initially had carcinoma in situ. In turn, TeLinde is seeking Gey’s services to find a cure and cause for cancer. Henrietta has invasive and malignant cancer.

Hopkins treats invasive carcinomas using radium, which is extremely dangerous. It destroys cells, causes mutations, burns skin, and kills cancerous cells. Research by Jones et al; believe in radium’s effectiveness and safety. Henrietta is being treated using radium and Gey obtains her cervical tissue (Skloot, 2010).

Works Cited

Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown Publishers, 2010, Print.