Ethical Debate on Savior Siblings: Ethics and Morality Essay

Savior Siblings: The Ethical Debate

At a hospital, one of the most fulfilling tasks carried out daily is that of helping mothers usher in newborns into the world. Proud parents of beautiful healthy babies cannot contain their joy as they take their bundles of joy home ready to embark on a journey full of endless moments of happiness. However, some parents' joys are short lived when their children develop life threatening illnesses and complications that leave them struggling each day to finding the best treatments. Although they make the decision to do all it will take to save the child's life, their options are limited particularly because most of the most common illnesses, such as Diamond Blackfan Anemia or leukemia, often require blood or bone marrow transfers which they are not in a position to give as they are not necessarily the exact tissue matches for the concerned child.

Confronted with dilemmas on how to save such children's life, doctors have adopted the practice of creating babies that provide stem cells or transplants to their siblings. To create savior siblings, sometimes referred to as spare part children, a cell is usually sourced from an embryo then tested to determine if it will match the cells of the older ill sibling. If they are a match, the umbilical stem cells of the new baby can grow into any part of the sick child's body. Therefore, they are implanted into the affected area in the older child's body, which often results in them being cured. The hospital has been presented with an opportunity to help desperate parents using this method after being given a chance to hire a doctor, who will specialize in creating spare part children. As the head of research at the hospital, it is imperative to present a solid argument in light of the conflicting views of the board of trustees. This text takes a look at spare part children in detail and evaluates whether it is advisable to hire the doctor to provide the service of creating "spare parts" children in the future.

Discussion

According to Whitehouse (2010), experts estimate that there are more 250 spare part children in existence in the United States today. In fact, in Chicago alone, about 1000 families had adopted the in vitro fertilization (IVF) method to select a donor child for the benefit of an older sick sibling. Furthermore, the first family to attempt this, the Nash family of Colorado was able to save their six-year-old daughter's life using their son Adam, and the result was two happy healthy children (Whitehouse, 2010). The main implication of this is that if the procedure is done for the right reasons, then parents can help save their child's life. The doctor is an expert at what he does - therefore, it is only correct to hire him because in most cases, only the umbilical cord is harvested and since it is usually discarded under normal circumstances, there is no real harm caused to the spare part child. In agreement with Dr. Brookoff, a member of the ethics panel, the hospital should not withhold treatment that has been offered to other babies before, and resulted in improved health conditions. As such, doctors in the hospital should take all available options to save the sick child's life; even if it means creating a spare part child.

Another motivation for engaging the services of the doctor would be to appreciate the advancement of genetic technology in the field of medicine and to put it to use in this hospital. Today, parents have been provided with a chance to save a sick child by getting another child. If there…