The Ethical Dilemna

I recently finished reading a book that Alyson and Jason sent me. It is called "My Sister's Keeper" and is written by Jodi Picoult. It is the story of a family who discover that their 2 year old daughter has a rare form of leukemia, and intentionally have a 'designer baby' in order to ensure a donor match for their older child. The designer baby, a daughter, was only intented to donate cord cells, however over the years, is expected to donate other cells, and bone marrow over and over. At the point where the story opens, the second daughter, now 13 years old, is being expected to donate a kidney to her sister.

It is a great novel that I would recommend to anyone. As the reader, you become angry and wonder how a parent can force a child (the designer child) to undergo invasive medical procedures over and over again that is of no benefit to her. The book however has promted me to think about what I would do as a parent if I were in that situation. When you see one child critcally ill, would you not do anything you could to save that child? However, would you force, coerce or even expect your other child to undergo painful medical procedures to save their sibling? How do you choose between your children? It is not something I would ever want to confront because I'm afraid that no matter what decision was made, it would not be the right one.