Recently turned into a television show, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is both a gripping historical account of medical development and the resulting ethical issues, and a family seeking justice.

After being diagnosed with cancer in 1951, Henrietta Lacks was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where samples of her tumour and tissue were given to researchers attempting to create an immortal human cell line. However, this was not told to either the patient or her family, leading to the cells being used in medical experiments and innovation, with the name HeLa used as the only identifier of where the cells originally came from.

Issues of race, class and education, medical ethics and social discrimination are part of the investigation that the author Rebecca Skloot delves into when finding out about the history of the cells — and a great deal of the book focuses on scientific innovation and personhood. While Henrietta Lacks’ story is the primary focus, hers is not the only example of testing and use of human subjects without permission or without concern for the rights of the participants.