Morals vs. Ethics

Morning Ladies...

I watched this documentary last night on genetically designed babies, and since watching it, have been fighting myself trying to figure out whether or not I'd do the same for my child.

(Anyone who has read "My Sisters Keeper" will know what I mean)

This family has a Son, Charlie, who has a rare disease which causes his bone marrow to fail called DBA (Diamond Blackfan Anaemia) and the only cure/guaranteed help, was stem cell transplant.

Neither of his parents were a direct tissue match, and the family had already had one other child, naturally, in the hope that there would be a tissue match, but no such luck there... So they were then left no real choice but to genetically design a baby that would be a perfect match for it's brother.

However, in Britain at the time, the law prevented the selection of embryos unless the embryo itself was at risk of inheriting a genetic illness. Because Charlie's illness was not genetic and the embryo would be created solely to save the life of an existing sibling, the authorities were presented with a dilemma and the Whitaker family faced the prospect of travelling to the United States to fulfil their wish - Which they did.

Charlie has since had the transplant and is doing well.

So here's what what I wanted to know:

If you were faced with this kind of decision, would you go through with it? Or would your conscience get the better of you?

What I didn't understand, is that these babies are born healthy, without any further "harm" to them. In other words, they are only used at birth - To collect the cord blood.

Granted that, if this child was born with the same genetic disorder (and he family wouldn't know until 10-12 weeks after birth as the embryo wasn't tested for the disorder - Which is why they were'nt allowed to do it in the U.K) the cord blood would then become useless.

So is it really worth all the risks?

I personally think I would go through with it. If I was able to heal my child, I would do whatever it took. I don't personally see any harm in the genetic designing of embryos in order to save a life...

Yes, they may not survive the biopsy, they may not implant themselves once the embryo is transferred to the mothers uterus, but then again, no fertilised egg is guaranteed to do so.

I read my sisters keeper and found it a fascinating arguement. Who knows what they would really do in that situation as I don think it is something any of us could comprehend. I agree with you that it doesnt seem too badifall you are using is the cord blood but in the book it keeps going doesnt it and the parents are not "bad" parents they are just desperate.

I'm interested to hear what others would do...sorry i think I am fence sitting

For me I have to realisistically think about it. We went through hell getting the child we already have. I am ashamed to say I will do everything that is needed. Having said that I wont harm another child to save mine. But to have another baby to save mine. I will do it. We are planning to have another child anyway. To have a third one we will have to sit and see if we can afford it. And yip I am sure we will do it then as well. We will look at all other methods first anyway before coming to such a conclusion.

And I will only have another child if we want another child. It is my babies. Not just there to save the other sibling or to be fashionable ect. They are my kids and will always be and for each and everyone I will do my best.

I think it would be interesting to compare the responses of "never had kids" women, pregnant women and women with kids. I wonder how much our hormones get in the way of these decisions....sorry that was the geek in me coming out.

I would do it - no argument there. I'm so in love with my little girl that I wouldn't think twice if her life was in danger and would do anything to save her. So what if another child is concieved to purely save her life - I would still love her/him once born and would not think of them as an organ donor - they would still be my baby. This is of course assuming both of them would live - not sure otherwise (too scary to think about )

I have seen this doco before. I would do it no matter what for either of my children. It is heartbreaking seeing your child sick and there is nothing you can do for them.

What they should is along the lines of what fleury said make it easier for stem cells to be avaliable and in NZ make the cord bank a lot cheaper.

Katherine wrote: I wonder how the genetically designed child will feel, growing up, as an adult, down the line? What happens to their emotional and mental wellbeing when they find out their creation was engineered so as to save the life of their sibling? What if the sibling dies -- will the child experience guilt? How much? I can only imagine the emotional ramifications -- there are so many questions raised in my mind, all of them having to do with the child whose birth has so many expectations attached to it. Like fleury, I wonder if the child would feel special or like a science experiment (good word choice, fleury!).

I agree, thats why my gut feeling would be no.

Having not faced the situation, I have absolutely no idea.  It's amazing what changes in your thinking when you're actually in the situation. 

miss wrote: I would do it. As long as it didn't involve terminating a child because it wouldn't match and I was prepared for it not to work, then I would totally do it. Of course if I really did not want another child I wouldn't, but I don't think that would be an issue in a case like this.

Yeah, that would've been the only reason I'd have been against it, but because there wan't a termination involved at all, it made it ok... For ME that is...

At the end of all the treatment etc, this woman had three embryos which were perfect matches - She was given the option of implanting all three, but was told that should the embryos take, and she fell pregnant with triplets, the liklihood of premature birth would therefore reduce the amount of useful cord blood, which in turn decreased the chances of being to help their ill child.

She immediately put her foot down and said no, which I would have too.

She opted to have two embryos implanted and only one of them 'took' and staretd growing... They had a healthy baby who had no complications whatsoever.

I think telling the new child that they were conceived to help cure their older sibling is a personal decision. I personally wouldn't do it as I wouldn't want to confuse the child or upset them (assuming that be the way they'd respond to the news) But then again, you could tell them and they feel an immense sense of pride knowing that without their life, the family would have lost a life.

But I do agree that to truly TRULY get an idea as to what these people have been through to make this perticular decision, you have to be wearing their shoes first.