Week 5: Chapters 29-38

Answer the following discussion questions, citing specific details from the passage.

Chapter 29:  What does Deborah mean when she says (p.235), "I do want to go see them cells, but I'm not ready yet"?

Chapter 30:  Why does Zakariyya have so much difficulty with anger and aggression?

Chapter 31:  Why did Rebecca send Deborah fictional accounts of HeLa as well as factual reports?

Chapter 32:  Do you agree with the idea that it should be like oil royalties?

Chapter 33:  What was your reaction to the description of the conditions and studies being done at Crownsville back in the 1950s?

Chapter 34:  How do you think you would have handled that evening in the hotel with Deborah, if you had been Rebecca?

Chapter 35:  How did you react to the description of Gary's prayer that God relieve Deborah of her burden?  How did Rebecca react?

Chapter 36:  Do you think that Rebecca's own attitudes toward religion were changed by her experiences in working on this book?

Chapter 37:  Why is this chapter titled "Nothing to be scared about"?

Chapter 38:  Why did Deborah come to such a different position regarding getting money for her mother's cells?

Week 4: Chapters 23-28

Answer the following discussion questions, citing specific details from the passage.

Chapter 23:  How could McKusick and his investigators have explained what they were doing in a way that made sense to the Lacks family?

Chapter 24:  How are ethical standards for research on humans today treated differently than they were in the 1970s?

Chapter 25:  Do you think that Johns Hopkins should be penalized or required to reimburse the Lacks family for using Henrietta Lacks' tissue samples to develop and distribute HeLa?

Chapter 26:  What impression of the Lacks family does Skloot create in this chapter?

Chapter 27:  What role do telomeres play in determining how many times a cell can divide?

Chapter 28:  Why did Johns Hopkins respond to Barbara Wyche's letter as it did?

Week 3: Chapters 15-22

Answer the following discussion questions, citing specific details from the passage.


Chapter 15:  Do you get a sense of Deborah's ambivalence in her feelings about Galen? How did that play a role in her molestation?


Chapter 16:  Why do the "white" and "colored" Lacks families have different beliefs about their interconnections?


Chapter 17:   What were the justifications given for Southam's failure to inform his subjects?


Chapter 18:  Why were scientists worried that cell and tissue research was becoming a disaster? What seemed to be going wrong?

Chapter 19:  What was Joe trying to say when he wrote "the critical time is now"?

Chapter 20:  What was the theory of spontaneous transformation?  What significance did Gartler's findings have for this theory?

Chapter 21:  Why did the family treat Rebecca Skloot differently from journalists who had come around before? What made her different?

Chapter 22:  Would you volunteer to serve as a subject in medical research, as George Gey did?  Why or why not?

Week 2: Chapters 7-14

Answer the following discussion questions, citing specific details from the passage.


Chapter 7: Why was the development of an "immortal" cell line like HeLa potentially so important to medical research?


Chapter 8:How did the elevated status of doctors in the 1950s affect the quality of the medical care they gave to their patients, both positively and negatively?


Chapter 9:  What is your impression of Turner Station and the people who live there?


Chapter 10:  Why does the author mention the radio program that playing in the background when she was talking with Cootie?

Chapter 11:  What is your reaction to the medical decisions regarding blood transfusions and discontinuing cancer treatment for Henrietta Lacks?


Chapter 12:  How did the Lacks cousins interpret the sudden storm during Henrietta's funeral? Do you agree?



Chapter 13:  Why is standardization of procedures considered so critical to scientific research? How can that standardization also limit the growth of research?


Chapter 14:  What do you think of journalists trying to find out Henrietta's name and contact her family for their stories?

Week 1: Chapters 1-6

Answer the following discussion questions, citing specific details from the passage.

Chapter 1:  What does this chapter suggest to you about Henrietta Lacks' ability to understand and make informed decisions about her treatment at the clinic?


Chapter 2:  What are your thoughts about the employment opportunities for black men at Sparrows Point?

Chapter 3:  Read the Operation Permit that Henrietta signed.  Do you think it gave the hospital the right to take tissue from Henrietta for research purposes?  Do you think Henrietta was able to understand what she was signing?

Chapter 4:  Why did Dr. Gey give samples of the HeLa cells to his colleagues?

Chapter 5:  Why was Henrietta surprised tolearn that she could not have children? Do you think she was not told, that she didn't understand what she had been told, or that she had forgotten?

Chapter 6:  Why do you think Deborah's attitude changed so much from the first phone call to the second?