Ethical Considerations Of The Savior Child

Ethical Considerations of the Savior Child
A savior child is a child that is used to help save a sibling’s life. This can be done by using their organs, bone marrow, blood, tissue, or cord blood to help their terminally ill sibling. The savior child may be a sibling that is a match. If there are no family members that are a match, the parent may consider creating a savior child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (Jackson, 2015). In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the process of combining a sperm cell and an ovum, and implanting the fertilized embryo in the uterus of the woman. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique used to identify genetic defects in embryos created through IVF. This

State interference with parental discretion tends to be triggered only when a significant risk is imposed on the child. The word ‘significant’ indicates that there is a level of less significant harm which children could be expected to tolerate as part of normal family life (Jackson, 2015). It is asking a lot of a child to succumb to countless medical exams and testing that is not necessary to sustain their own health. Testing is scary for anyone, but especially a small child that does not understand why they are being put through what they often view as torture. Along with the emotional turmoil the child is feeling they may have physical scars from going through multiple lab tests, bone marrow biopsies, or even organ transplantation. This can cause a lot of undue stress for the child. The child may feel guilt for not wanting to put themselves through any more tests to save their sibling, or they may have guilt from not being able to save their sibling despite all the efforts. This may lead to them feeling ashamed for letting their parents and sibling down. Some would say it is in the best interest of the savior child to have a healthy sibling and happy parents. This would make for a more positive childhood than a dying sibling and devastated parents (Jackson, 2015). The mental and physical health of the savior child must be considered.

In other countries there are laws governing how this process can be used, currently in the United States there are no laws governing this process (Trifiolis, 2014). Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is widely accepted when used to avoid serious illness in a child. It reduces the chance of having a child with genetic or chromosomal disorder. When preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is used for this purpose, it is in the best interest of the embryo, savior child (Trifiolis, 2014). Controversy arises when preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is used solely for tissue typing, this type of screening will only benefit the sick child (Trifiolis, 2014). Tissue typing is used to check compatibility of tissues prior to transplant (Trifiolis, 2014). Many believe having the ability to select certain genes is the gateway to “designer babies”. Couples could potentially design the perfect child, choose the eye or hair color, even the sex of the child. There should be regulations established in our country to regulate the use of this