PHI 111 Final Paper: Dilemmas in My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult The novel “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult explores the medical, legal, ethical and moral issues related to long term illness and discusses some of the bioethical issues around the experimental technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. The author presents many ethical dilemmas when a couple chooses to genetically engineer a baby to create a bone marrow match for their terminally ill daughter. That creation is Anna Fitzgerald, who is beginning to wonder about her place in the world and questions her on going donations in order to save her sister’s, Kate’s life. Anna feels that her existence is defined by her ability to save her sister. That type of …show more content…
However I feel that Brian and Sara forgot to focus on what could be better for Anna when the time came for her to live her own life. At first Anna was experiencing psychological altruism which sometimes motivated her to put Kate’s interests ahead of her own. As Anna grew older she realized that the donations were at her own expense and she wanted to be free. Everyone, including children has the right to act in one’s own best interest. Therefore if Anna felt that she was not living to her best ability because of her connection with Kate then this egoism should be respected. This contrasts her mother, Sara’s psychological egoism, because she was acting in her own interests to save Kate. In this case, what Sara finds acceptable for Anna is negligent against Anna’s autonomy. The character of Sara is most adamant that it is in Anna’s best interests to act as a donor for Kate. However I do not think she meant for Anna to be at the mercy of her sister. I think she was only intent on doing what had to be done to keep her family intact by preserving the life of Kate. Sara believes that the social, emotional and psychological best interests of a person depend upon the happiness in the family in which they grow up in. This gives the idea that Anna’s best interests and welfare are closely tied to those of her family, who
Children can feel neglected when one of their siblings have a serious illness. Annas statement, which appears in her narration on the first Monday, refers to the way Anna’s parents conceived her. When Anna says she “didn’t get here by accident,” she means that her parents deliberately selected her, or rather the embryo that would become her, for a specific reason.“Although I am nine months pregnant, although I have had plenty of time to dream, I have not really considered the specifics of this child. I have thought of this daughter only in terms of what she will be able to do for the daughter I already have…Then again, my dreams for her are no less exalted; I plan for her to save her sister’s life.” Anna’s mother didn’t even have her because she wanted to she had her because she felt like she needed to. When that was done from there on out the neglection started
I believe Anna was right to listen to Kate because she passed away knowing that she was not going to live and was not going to be put someone’s life in danger to save her own. I believe what she did was right because Anna was brought into the world to be a genetic match for her older sister, Kate, who suffers from acute leukemia. Her sister's dependency on her, Anna was unable to live the life she wants. Anna in and out of the hospital constantly, she cannot take part in extracurricular activities such as cheerleading or soccer. Knowing that she will have to donate one of her kidneys to her sister, Anna sues her parents for medical emancipation and the rights to her own body. Believing that she would not survive the surgery, Kate wants to die. Anna wins the case, and due to her sister's wishes does not donate her kidney. In conclusion , it shows that Anna not only fulfilled her sisters wishes, but also stood up for herself because she did not want to go under the knife, and go through a painful process not knowing what could possibly happen to her. It not only shows a symbolic sisters role, but also elaborates on equality for justice, and personally rights. Therefore, I do believe what she did for herself and her sister was the right thing to do because she did not deserve to go through such a difficult
The social contract of nursing is important because it reflects the nursing's code of ethics, which is to provide care to all who are in need, regardless of their cultural, social, or economic standing. The social contract exists because we rely on a guideline to continue to provide ethical care that is within our scope of practice. Unfortunately, in Rebecca Skloot’s (2010) book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” there were many ethical violations throughout the whole process about the Henrietta Lacks’ cells (HeLa). The author reveals the story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who was diagnosed with a fast-growing cervical cancer at a young age. The cells retrieved from her cervical tumor became the first immortal cell that could survive in the lab and replicate continuously without dying. Without the consent of Henrietta Lacks and her family, these cells later became key components to the development of many groundbreaking inventions such as the polio vaccine and in vitro fertilization. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the social covenant of nursing in relation to the ethical issues behind the use of the HeLa cells without the patient’s and her family’s consent.
Anna and Kate have came up with a bunch of reasons as to why Anna wants to be emancipated. At the age of eleven, Anna and her older brother, Jesse, go hire a lawyer to sue their parents for the rights to Anna’s body. The lawyer takes the case because he knows what it is like to live a life where you have no control of your body. The lawyer suffers from epilepsy. Anna wants to become a medically emancipated minor. The courts had never heard of such a case and there is no such term as medically emancipated, legally defined. With Anna becoming medically emancipated, it means that Sara and Brian’s parental rights have been terminated within limits. They still had to provide shelter, food, clothing, and other basics, but they could not tell her what to do medically.
They cannot believe that Anna would do such a thing. They always wondered why she wouldn’t help her sister in her time of need. Anna’s father says, “We all know you’re supposed to love your kids equal, but that’s not always how it works” (147). They call her selfish for not wanting to donate anymore. Anna does feel guilty for not wanting to help her sister, but she is tired of getting stuck with needles and being hospitalized when she is never the one who is sick.
In the article “Selecting the Perfect Baby: The Ethics of “Embryo Design,” is an article about a married couple, name Larry and June Shannon. They have a daughter, four years old, name Sally, who is diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia. Therefore, the Shannons are getting help from a research team, to find the perfect bone marrow transplant for Sally. The Shannon couple is also interested in having another child and they are aware of the risks and odds of success. However, a PGD process has to be performed and the couple must undergo an IVF procedure more than once, before the implantation is successful, to be able to produce a healthy full-term baby.
I do believe the knowledge that Anna was conceived to save Kate affects both Anna’s and Kate’s perceptions of themselves. This, however, does not affect their relationship with each other. In Kate’s case, I feel the knowledge that Anna was conceived to save Kate did make Kate feel guilty. She felt like she was responsible for Anna’s pain because as portrayed in the movie, Kate felt like she “let” her parents hurt her sister.
In Fun Home, Alison’s dynamic with her father is damaged to a certain extent and she finds inspiration in how she wants to not make her life the way that she grew up. Just like Alison, Sara in The Bread Givers, finds inspiration in the dynamic with her own father because she wants to have a life of her own choosing, but she thinks so highly of father and his love for books and knowledge. These two girls both look up to their fathers to a certain extent but at the same time they each find resentment in the culture norms that their fathers push towards on them. Both Alison and Sara are damaged by their fathers dynamic within the family but they both find inspiration to not get overshadowed by who their fathers are and want they may want for them but a life of their very own.
From the time Anna was born, whenever Kate fell ill and needed a donor, Kate and Anna’s parents did not hesitate to use Anna’s body without asking her. Parents should not harm one child to save another. Anna decides to go to a lawyer and sue her parents for the rights of her own body. The lawyer makes an ethical decision to be a
The conversation of consent to medical research of one’s tissues is critical due to the increasing number of discoveries in the field of medicine. In the 1950s, Johns Hopkins Hospital encountered one example of an ethical problem regarding education in the realm of medical research. Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks does well in elaborating on this conflict. This true story involves an African American woman who, while undergoing treatment for cervical cancer, has her cells extracted from her without permission. Skloot achieves a more personal level of the story by describing the lives of Henrietta’s children, then and now, in addition to the story of Henrietta herself. Unfortunately, the Lacks family had a poor
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, is a book about an African-American woman, Henrietta Lacks, who had cervical cancer in the early 1950s. Henrietta went to John Hopkins hospital, one of the only hospitals to treatment African-Americans, they derived part of her cancer cells from her cervix and tried to keep growing her cells for research to try and discover a cure for cervical cancer. They have tried this on many patients before, but Henrietta’s cells were special and kept growing, while the other patient’s cells would die. However, Henrietta Lacks and her family had no idea about the doctors taking her cells and medical records and sending them to other doctors around the world. In Skloot’s book there are many ethical
Was Sara’s and Brian’s choice to conceive Anna to be a genetic match for Kate morally justified?
In this scene where Kate is ready to die and relive every moment of your life and the beautiful moments that happened to his family. Also when she was counted as his love and Taylor as suffered by the death of his first love. Also explains that she is upset because her parents are using Anna trying to save her and that's what hurts most. However we parents are not ready to let go of Kate and feel the need to continue the fight against cancer. Anna who is helping her sister to survive no longer wants to continue grasping because she wants to live his life as everyone else. She wants to do things knowing if he donates his kidney to his sister will not be able to do to do such as pregnant in her entire
All the people she met on her way came and went leaving Anna alone with her beloved Baby and sorrows. Baby was too small to understand her, he was childishly selfish and cruel but he was the only person who still needed her. There was no one she loved more than him, she lived for him. She wanted to share her thoughts with him and the only way for her was to write it, "My little sun! I have always been alone everywhere with you and I always will. A woman is weak and indecisive as far as she s concerned personally, but she is a beast when she has to defend her child. … Are there forces that can stop a woman who is
The useable organs in her body are donated to Kate so she can live. In the movie Kate says to Anna that is okay if she doesn't want to donate her kidney because Kate didn't want to live anymore, she wanted to die. Anna sued her parents for the right to her own body, for Kate and for herself. She eventually won the case and didn't have to give Kate the kidney. Kate slowly started to get sicker and eventually died.