Brave Humans

Hi all. Nothing about politics or religion today. No, this time it’s the morality surrounding health advances.

Truth telling first: the idea for this topic was inspired by a book I’m reading: “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult. It’s about a girl whose parents conceived her in order to donate her cord blood to her leukemia-ravaged sibling. But as time passes and the illness reasserts itself, the sister also donates blood and marrow. Now she’s being told she’s donating a kidney. Her problem? She says she’s never been asked to donate anything…it’s just been expected of her. She’s fighting back: she has retained an attorney so she may obtain medical emancipation…

I’m finding the premise of this book a bit creepy. Since becoming a mother, I ordinarily can’t stand any kind of “entertainment”…. movies, TV, books… where harm comes to children. It’s hard to get through, but I persevere, hoping to get some insight into the minds of the parents. How can they justify medical procedures that are not in the best interest of one child in order to help another? Could I coerce my child like that?

On the other hand, wouldn’t I do just about anything in order to protect my child? I’d certainly give up my own kidney in a heartbeat. I’m sure that my husband would do the same if he were a better match. Isn’t family sometimes about selflessness?

I think, however, that the larger issue is not about family; it’s about medicine getting ahead of humans. There have been so many medical advances in recent times (e. g., stem cell research, certain infertility treatments, life-sustaining measures for the terminally ill) that are controversial, not only within a society, but within individuals. For instance:
• I’m pro-choice, but the idea of selective reduction leaves me queasy.
• Ditto late-term abortion.
• When my mother died recently she had a living will, but I really didn’t want to lose my mom and part of me wanted her hooked up to a machine so I wouldn’t have to cope with her passing.

My major point here is not to debate how to settle such issues. I’m not delving into the medical ethics involved in the rapid progress that is made every year. But as I read “My Sister’s Keeper,” I understood, if not the decisions, at least the doubt and torment faced by the parents. How can I come down on one side or another on a controversial medical issue when I’m struggling within myself over the morality of it? I don’t want medical advances to stop or even slow down (I think), but our country already faces grim decisions with what has been accomplished so far…what’s next? And how will we as individuals handle those complications in order to generate societal decisions?

Be brave. Be human.
Susan

P. S. Now that I’ve finished “My Sister’s Keeper,” I can recommend most of it as a thought-provoking read on family morality, but I found the ending contrived and unchallenging. You’ve been warned.