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MY SISTERS KEEPER 1
MY SISTERS KEEPER 5
My Sisters Keeper: An Ethical Perspective
X. Ample
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Ethical Issue: Genetic Technology in Healthcare
I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mothers eggs and my fathers sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material...because I could save my sister, Kate, (Picoult, 2004, p. 7-8). Anna, the protagonist of Jodi Picoults novel My Sisters Keeper bemoans her special status when she first introduces herself to readers and throughout her narrative. Picoults novel raises several interrelated ethical issues in healthcare, including those related to the autonomy and self-determination of minors and the rights of those who, due to medical circumstances, lack the power to make their own healthcare choices. One of the overarching issues in the book, and the one most central to Annas story, is that of medical technology. Medical technologies have allowed for processes like in vitro fertilization, which has become relatively common practice in spite of what Anna claims at the opening of her story when she states, unlike the rest of the free world, I didnt get here by accident, (p. 8). Of course, Annas attitude towards her purpose in life, her background and origin story, and her relationship with her sister Kate do change with age and maturity. Her own ethical stance alters somewhat, and yet Anna internalizes the anger she feels towards her parents to the point where she seeks medical emancipation.
When Anna seeks emancipation, readers immediately sympathize, mainly because of the way her parents...
Anna is what is known as a savior sibling, (Raz, Schues, Wilhelm, et al., 2017, p. 191). The savoir sibling phenomenon is a peculiar one from a medical ethics standpoint. In a different family, Anna might have been provided with a more substantial degree of self-determination but in My Sisters Keeper, Anna remains bereft of the opportunity to exercise her rights as a human being.
Savior Siblings and Autonomy
Advanced genetic technology has particularly transformed reproductive science and reproductive practices around the world. Many people do not seem to have a problem with in vitro fertilization for couples who cannot conceive, in many cases advocating passionately on their behalf in spite of the pressing need to adopt unwanted children who have already been born. Yet introduce the possibility that a couple might deliberately engineer a child so that it will have the genetic features conducive to an organ donation for a sibling and people start to raise red flags. From a nursing perspective, it is critical to focus on the principle of autonomy in medical ethics.
Autonomy is a core precept of nursing ethics. The American Nurses Association stresses the central importance of autonomy in its pay-to-access code of ethics (Olson & Stokes, 2016). The savior sibling phenomenon addressed in My Sisters Keeper is inextricably linked with that of patient autonomy. Interestingly, attitudes towards savior siblings may be culturally embedded, requiring closer scrutiny of contextual variables when nurses counsel patients considering whether or not to have a savior baby to save the life of a sick child (Raz, Schues, Wilhelm, et…
References
Olson, L.L. & Stokes, F. (2016). The ANACode of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements:Resource for Nursing Regulation. Journal of Nursing Regulation 7(2): 9-20.
Picoult, J. (2004). My Sisters Keeper. New York: Washington Square Press.
Raz A, Sches C, Wilhelm N, & Rehmann-Sutter C. (2017). Saving or Subordinating Life? Popular Views in Israel and Germany of Donor Siblings Created through PGD. Journal of Medical Humanities. 2017 Jun 1;38(2):191-207.
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