Notes for a critical response essay on the reading ““Rescue me: The moral and ethical

problems of creating savior siblings” by Jenifer Lahl (2008)

I. Summary
- Tell real-life story adapted for the movie “My sister’s keeper” : illustrate the
dilemma
- Demonstrate a fact : In America, there remains a dire shortage of cord blood for
transplantation
- Suggestion for a shift from Private bank to public bank for collecting cord blood:
Give updated information about legislation as well as financial support, the federal
government making tremendous progress to improve the situation.
- Mention her own contribution
II. Author and source
- Leading figure in..
- Founder of…
- 15 years of experience in…
- On “Lifenews”: experienced journalists and bloggers
III. Argument and evidence
1. A movie has been referred to, a real story about the little girl Catherine: realistic look
2. Let the audience answer the moral question: no subjective opinion, not biased, tactful
3. Solution: encouraging the shift of private bank into public ones:
- Strengthen the solution by including a fact that “the federal government passed
the H.R 2052 Act…” /
- Other newly enacted legislation, news also acknowledged ->updated
4. The author’s own contribution has been mentioned – accelerate the “stem cell
research …in need” -> more reliable, more respect from readers

II. Language and style

- Bone marrow
- DBA

III. Reflection

- “I know I was born to save Charlie” – Angela Levin from Dailymail online
newspaper: on the other side of the debate; “double blessing”
- Personally: no right or wrong answer, depend on individuals & particular aspect
The reproduction of savior siblings, also known as “designer” babies has been one of the
most controversial issues these days. Accordingly, the article entitled “Rescue me: The
moral and ethical problems of creating savior siblings” written by Jennifer Lahl - the proud
founder and currently national director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network
(CBC) addresses the exact matter where ethics can become trickier and more indefinite and
raise the voice against the practice of using genetic screening to produce a baby, no matter
how noble the reason is. The following essay acts as a guide to help dissect and further
understand every aspect there is in the article.

Summary

From the beginning of “Rescue me: The moral and ethical problems of creating savior
siblings”, Lahl (2008) brought forth a condition raising some troubling ethical questions and
later featured a real-life story adapted for the movie “My sister’s keeper” to illustrate her
concern over the topic as “the child might feel like a means to an end”. As far as the story
is concerned, a little girl, Catherine, suffered from Diamond Blackfan Anemia and her life
precariously depended upon the cord blood stem cells from another genetically identical
sibling so she could produce red blood cells on her own. This dilemma, in turn, puts a
considerable stress not only on Catherine’s parents, but also on the connection between the
siblings as Lahl put it, “they might one day come to realize their unique and very unusual
relationship”. To strengthen her argument, the author went on to demonstrate a fact that in
a highly medically advanced nation like the United States of America, there remains a dire
shortage of cord blood for transplantation and through legislation as well as financial support,
the federal government has been making tremendous progress to improve the situation. In
her final analysis, the author mentioned her own contribution in order to “help real patients
in real need.”
Evaluation

1. Author, source

Jennifer Lahl is one of the leading figures in the health care service and currently the founder
and national director of Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Furthermore, she holds
a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and has gained over 15 years of experience in
pediatric nursing, specifically critical care, pediatric trauma, and transport nursing. The
article she wrote, “Rescue me: The moral and ethical problems of creating savior siblings”,
was up and available on www.lifenews.com. For your information, LifeNews.com has been
harnessing the power of the Internet since 1992 with a team of experienced journalists and
bloggers. Most importantly, the website has been renowned for its impartiality, accuracy
and timeliness. All things considered, there should be no questioning about the credibility of
the article.

2. Argument and evidence

At the beginning, Lahl (2008) referred to a movie called “My sister’s keeper” based on the
novel by Jodi Picoult so as to demonstrate how “the strain this drama takes on a family” and
to introduce to us a closer more realistic look at the context. Another real life story the author
mentioned was about the little girl Catherine who was undergoing regular blood transfusions
as she had been diagnosed with DBA. Unfortunately, both of her younger siblings, one of
which was born as a savior sibling, were in no position to save her. The author decided to
take a passively biased view and didn’t particularly give any subjective opinion and let
the audience answer the moral question by themselves, “Is it right to produce embryo
siblings, find the genetic match, and implant that embryo into the mother’s womb, in order to
provide the sick sibling with a donor?” This is a clever diplomatic approach to go about the
issue by Jennifer Lahl as she provided the readers with two specific circumstances and
then challenged their conscience without appearing overly aggressive or arbitrary.

3. Language and style

The language in which the article was written is self-explanatory and does not bring about
any confusion or difficulty in understanding the concept. In some cases, specific medical
terms such as “bone marrow” or DBA were directly followed by clarifications. Overall,
this is a brief, succinct and straightforward article with a right blend of stories and facts that
doesn’t flood readers with uncalled for and boring details. On the whole, the article is well
worth the read for the general public.
Reflection
Similar to Jennifer’s article, “I know I was born to save Charlie” by Angela Levin from the
online newspaper www.dailymail.co.uk features another case of Diamond Blackfan Anemia.
The little boy in the story, Charlie, was diagnosed with………………. However, Levin
(2011) seemed to be on the other side of the debate by saying, “If a healthy child could
save the life of a sick one, then it was a double blessing.” This is true in the case of Charlie’s
family, …………………..Personally speaking, there is no right or wrong answer to the
problem as it greatly depends on the individuals involved to see the matter from a particular
aspect.
Conclusion

To conclude, Jennifer Lahl’s article presents to us a subtly negative perspective on the

somewhat troubling issue of savior babies – the ones whose existence is contingent upon
their ability to save lives – and a broad picture of how governmental authorities are taking
action to deal with this disturbing practice. In essence, by featuring the real life dilemma
of a DBA patient through the movie “My sister’s keeper” and incorporating the activities
of not only the author but other organizations as well, Jennifer is definitely looking
forward to the future where the bank of cord blood stem cells is wide open to any
suffering victim and thus, dramatically negate the procreation of “designer” babies.
Overall, Jennifer succeeded in conveying her message to the audience without using
much technical medical terminology.