Bunayog, Jacela Annsyle J.

BSN2C

Case 3-1: Donor sibling. Film: “My sister’s keeper” (2009)

Case Analysis

When a family member specifically a child has a known genetic or inherited condition, normally
a sibling would be the best option for transplants or to help through the treatment process
because of the shared parents’ chromosomes. Yet, not everyone is blessed with a sibling.
Therefore, doctors recommend a technology where the mother’s egg and the father’s sperm are
combined in a petri dish. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, France and Australia, a
donor or savior sibling is possible and ethically acceptable. However, some believe that the
ethics behind having a donor sibling to treat his/her sibling is wrong and that it contradicts the
traditional notion of morality and appears to have nothing to do with traditional conceptions of
family planning. These technology are called the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and
other forms of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) that is available for parents that are willing to have
another baby to save their existing sick child. A donor sibling or a savior sibling is genetically
screened with precisely the right cells that is needed to match for their seriously ill sibling on a
test tube or the mother is given implants of only healthy embryos on the uterus and at birth, a
treatment process is done to the donor child to help his/her sibling which is called the
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, also called as bone marrow transplantation, this is ued
in so many types of cancer and over the years it has been an effective way to treat numerous
disease particularly in the malignancies of the blood. Cell sources that will include bone marrow,
peripheral blood, umbilical cord blood, and each of these has advantages and disadvantages,
and each has its own found particular clinical applications.
While popular fiction, such as My Sister's Keeper depicts savior siblings in a touchingly manner, I
feel the problem of savior siblings is complicated by the ethical questions it presents, and among
these is this question on who really gets to decide whether or not to have a donor child and how
and when should the donor child contribute to the recipient child. On the other hand, there is
also already a great tradition where we let our parents be the ultimate judge of the medical and
family planning in our individual family units. Yet a lot say that there really is fundamentally
wrong in the principles of why parents have children donor to save another existing terminally ill
child. Even though the parent's reasons are of love and with good intentions, it is still principle
wrong for the donor child, considering it is born to save their sibling from an illness. This raises a
lot of concerns about the safety and welfare of the donor child created. The parents are seen to
have been acting unethically for wanting a child not for the sake they want another child but to
save another. Acoording to Kant, "act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your
own person or in the another person." Additionally, donor centers and doctors should balance
the needs of both the donor and recipient child. The risks of side effects that the procedures
carries must be explained, understood by the parents and foreseen, careful and detailed
assessment must be considered due to the ethical and legal situation associated with the
donation and because this does not improve the physical health of the donor child. A concern
raises about how the donor child will be affected physically, mentally, and emotionally. Aside
from the doctors that knows and also will be doing the invasive procedures, it is clear that the
parents are the ones who are able to decide on how and when their donor child can contribute
in the treatment process. Since they were the ones that decided to have another child as a
match for the purpose of providing biological material for their existing terminally ill child, they
should also consider the safety and welfare of the savior sibling.
A lot of arguments about this issue, may it be against or agrees in this way to help another living
human being. Therefore, the donor child or a savior sibling creation can bring about a positive
end result. This is ethical and acceptable that the parents that wants to have another child to
save an ill child of theirs is doing the most loving thing possible, looking out for their children
and providing the best medical treatment process to save their children and that the donor child
is valued as much as the sick child and other normal children. The donor child is not only born to
help his or her sibling but to help their parents in the trying times they are encountering.