is it right to create a child to save the life of another?

[wannaBe]

the embriology bill is to be debated by MP's.

here

One of the points being discussed is the ability to be able to create "savior" siblings.

Now I can totally understand the thinking behind this, especially from a parent's point of view, but I have to admit that the idea of this makes me very uncomfortable.

Is it right, after all, to create a child to save the life of another child? What happens if treatment is unsuccessful and the other child dies anyway? What impact must that have on the created child, to find out that they were created to save the life of their sibling? a sibling that has possibly died? And that many other embrios might have been discarded in order to find that one perfect one? and that if they had not had the right tissue type they wouldn't be there?

discuss..

Jodi PIcoult wrote a book on this topic - My Sister's Keeper - which tackled some of these issues, the main crux of the story being that the "savior sibling" was fed up of being tapped for her blood / stem cells / organs all the time and sued for medical emancipation even though it would probably mean that her sister would die. It was quite a thought provoking read.

Another thing that the book also touched on was that there was a thid sibling involved which couldn't help save his sister and this meant that he was totally sidelined because the whole reason d'etre of the rest of the family focused on the ill child and her sister's donations.

Not sure how I feel about it all now - I doubt I would do it TBH but then I've not been in the position whereby I would need to make that decision and I know I would want to do every single possible thing I could to save my children.

It's a tough one.

riven - sorry to hear about your DD.

me too riven (sorry that is)

When we consider whether to bring a child into existence there are always going to be interests at stake other than the as-yet non-existent child's.

She has no interests as yet and we conjour her because we want children -- for whatever reason.

The important question is whether we believe sincerely that, when she exists, and possesses rights and needs and interests, these will be wholly respected, despite whatever interests we have ion creating her.

Those families who need a 'saviour sibling' merely have very specialised sorts of reasons for having a child.

As I understand it, they aren't likely to be in the position of 'Well, we don't want a child except for the help it can bring to DC1'. Rather, they will be in this position: 'Of course we want another child for all sortsd of reasons, and we will cherish her; but because DC1 has a certain medical condition we want to be able to select an embryo that will result in a child, much love, who can help DC1.'

Yes, but what happens when the saviour child is conceived for harvest cord stem cells or whatever and that doesn't do the trick and so that child has to then endure multiple procedures to donate blood, bone marrow, organs...

It will be very very difficult for a young child to be able to articulate his / her wishes and even when old enough to do so then they may feel such immense pressure to keep doing it that they do it against their will, and may not express that reluctance.

Beyond that exposing a child to medical procedures when they don't need it is hideously unfair and potentially dangerous.

But Yabba all those considerations will be exactly the same whether you had the 'saviour child' deliberately in order to help the ill child, or the second child just accidentally turned out to be a potential donor.

The parents will have exactly the same responsibilites of care to the disabled older child and the second child.

So those considerations don't really have a strict bearing on the rightness or wrongness of 'choosing' a saviour child.

I guess it would be really tough for the parents to balance the needs of each of their children, but, as riven says, this will always be tough in a famuily with a disabled child.

It woudn't work for me. I have enough with the responsibility of bringing a child to the world. I wouldn't want the added responsibility of "selecting". If something bad happened to the "selected" one, I would always tell myself why didn't I left it to nature.

Not for me.

why didn't i leave it to nature, even

the jodie piccoult book is a very provoking read nd altered my thoughts a little.

although i share the opinion of kerrymum.

If the child is loved and wanted for itself then I see nothing wrong with engineering a wanted child to be able to assist a sick sibling. However, it also depends on the nature of the assistance required. A one off donation of stem cells etc would be fine, a life time of donor servitude would not.

So my answer is I would support it as long as it would not be materially detrimental to the donor child's quality of life.

Of course I wouldn't have a baby just to save the life of my child!

A child is for life. A decision to have another child to save the first one is very very dodgy IMO.

It's a very difficult situtation, but I would.

and under terms as gooseyloosey said.

I know if one of my siblings needed bone marrow or a kidney I wouldn't think twice if I was a match, and I assume most would feel the same.

Instinctively I don't much like the idea, but that's an emotional response rather than a thought-out one. However, people have children for all sorts of rubbish reasons - saving the life of a sibling is not a bad one, IMO.

OK, KerryMum, don't be upset. Put yourself in this situation:
Technology is so up-to-date that scientists can tell how a person is likely to die from what they see in the genetic info of the embryos: cancer, suicide, heart-attack.
Your child is dying and needs a saviour sibling. Scientist say, yes, this embryo is perfect BUT we also see a 90% chance of developing manic depression with a 70% chance he'll kill himself, after a life of suffering and misery.
Now, tell me in all honesty, if you still would go ahead.
The point I want to make is that there are things that we cannot control, and selecting an embryo is selecting a specific human being to be born, and creating a life that may not be necessarily good.
Now, please calm down, and don't accuse other people of not loving their children as much as you do, just because we are uncomortable about this issues. At least respect the opinions without insulting.

excuse typos
the situation is obviously hypothetical, to happen in a non distant future...