MWP #1 Intro/Definition paragraph

The most difficult thing for a parent to endure is to watch his/her child become deathly ill with little or nothing to do to help their child. Imagine that your child had a life threatening disease such as acute promyelocytic leukemia, a blood and bone marrow cancer, which is the case in the heart wrenching fictional novel My Sister’s Keeper. This novel illustrates with today’s advancements in technology such as gene mapping, parents will no longer have to suffer with this type of tragedy. Once again envision your child had this aggressive type of cancer would you take advantage of the medical advancements and create what is known as a savior sibling, or would you simply hope your child would be lucky enough to find a donor that matched his/her bone marrow? That is the ethical issue that is raised today with all the new techniques as well as technology involved in creating such humans known as sibling saviors. Many debates have spurred from this topic especially the selfish use of gene mapping for creating designer babies and savior siblings rather than using this technology to eliminate embryos that have life threatening diseases or may threaten the mother’s life during pregnancy and birth. The lack of ethics has played a key role in abusing the gene mapping technique as well as abusing savior siblings, which is the case in My Sister’s Keeper.

In this paper I will be discussing gene mapping and creating designer babies and savior siblings. Therefore, key medical and ethical terms are vital to the understanding of the overall argument of this paper. Gene mapping can be defined as the arrangement of genes, a graphic representation of the arrangement of genes on a chromosome which can manipulate a specific trait of an individual (Ex. Eye color). The term designer baby can be defined as a baby preselected at the embryo stage for desirable characteristics (ex. gender)

"To Be or Not to Be My Sister's Keeper? A Revised Legal Framework Safeguarding Savior Siblings' Welfare" Rhetorical Precis

In "To Be or Not to Be My Sister's Keeper? A Revised Legal Framework Safeguarding Savior Siblings' Welfare" Amy Lai asserts that although My Sister's Keeper is fictionous the creation of savior siblings is a real phenomenon. Lai supports her claim by discussing the birth of Adam Nash, who was the first successful child with the use of a technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Lai then quotes Dr. Wagner about this case "the work done to combine pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to create a healthy cord blood donor holds great promise for those not only with Fanconi anemia, but also leukemia, thalassemia, Hurler syndrome and other dieseases that cause the immune system and bone marrow to fail." Lai has a strong opinion on this topic by brining up the legal issue that young children are incapable of making reasoned decisions and the proposal of regulations that prohibit young children to volunteer their tissue or organs despite their wishes. Lai keeps her readers in mind by connecting this legal issue back into the novel My Sister's Keeper whose climax involves the savior sibling filing a law suit against her parents.

REFERENCE



Lai, Amy. "To Be or Not to Be My Sisters' Keeper?". Journal of Legal Medicine 32, 3, pp. 261-293, CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

"Theraeutic Reproduction and Human Dignity" Rhetorical Precis

In the article "Therapeutic Reproduction and Human Dignity" (2009) Richard Storrow accentuates the fact that bioethicists have long embraced literature as a valuable tool. Storrow supports this claim by stating that the study of ficition can be transformitive in addressing not only existing bioethical dilemmas but also ones that yet remain in the realm of speculation. The literary works of Jodi Picoult in "My Sister's Keeper" triggered the controversy of reproduction-assisting technologies and the crisis in human organ donation. Storrow soon turns to the point of view in which this book was written in which is from the donor's perspective. This novel raises questions about the lengths to which families and society should go to heal those stricken by disease. Strorrow has a strong opinion on the excellent depcition of seperation of family and state in this novel. He keeps his audience in mind by restating the metaphor found inside My Sister's Keeper which was "the firefighter husband describing his family as a house fire out of control" and relating this metaphor to the explosive technology that has created these saviour children.

REFERENCE

Storrow, Richard F. "Therapeutic Reproduction and Human Dignity." Law and Literature Vol. 21 , No. 2 (2009): 257-274. Print.  

"Designing Babies: What the Future Holds" Rhetorical Precis

In the article "Designing Babies: What the Future Holds" (2004) Yury Verlinsky empasizes the various ethical debates over teh techniques and technologies behind human designer babies. Verlinsky supports his claim by stating this controversial question: should it be illegal for parents and doctors to design babies by selecting pr altering an embryo and bring it to a full-term fetus. The writer soon acknowledges the fact that sorting through embroys is beneficial in the case to prevent certain genetic diseases in order to reduce the financial and emotional strains on the parents. Verlinsky shifts his tone towards the economic situation in the United States, which he believes plays a significant role in making choices such as the characteristics of a new born child. He keeps his audience in mind by not completely demoralizing the designing of unborn children. He goes into great detail about PGD which is a medical diagnostic procedure allowing the design to avoid the pregnancy with congenital disease.

REFERENCES

Velinsky, Yury. "Designing Babies: What the Future Holds." Reproductive Biomedicine Online (Reproductive Healthcare Limited) 10. (2005): 24-26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

"Should Selecting Saviour Siblings be Banned" Rhetorical Precis

In "Should Selecting Saviour Siblings be Banned?" (2004) S. Sheldon asserts that parents are using these saviour siblings as a means to their own ends. The writer soon suggests that all humans use other humans as a mean to their own ends. A blood transfusion is a perfect example of this, however, quite different than creating a new human to be a saviour to a brother/sister. The difference between a simple blood transfusion and a saviour sibling is that blood donations are given by individuals who are willing to donate blood. Saviour siblings are created for only one purpose and that is to save the other siblings life. Sheldon has a very strong opinion about creating children in the name of saving a different child stating "It is totally unethical. You are not creating a child for itself." and "The trouble really is that this child as it grows up has been brought into the world because it is a commodiy." Sheldon's tone is very concerned by stating that these type of children suffer both physical harm from the use of PGD and psychological harm. The author keeps in mind his readers by going in depth about each topic of the article such as outlining the welfare of a child, and the slippery slope of designing such babies.

REFERENCES

Sheldon S. "Should Selecting Saviour Siblings Be Banned?" Journal of Medical Ethics. Vol. 30 No. 6 (Dec., 2004): 533-37. Print.