Topic > An ethical theme of genetic engineering in the film My Sister's Keeper

Genetic engineering, a highly debated and extremely controversial topic prevalent throughout the world, is one of the many ethical themes present in the entire film My Sister Caretaker. Also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, the process of genetic engineering involves manipulating an organism's genes using biotechnology to change the genetic composition of cells, with the intent of improving that particular organism in some way. In My Sister's Keeper, Kate, deathly ill and desperate for a marrow donor, and her younger sister Anna, a healthy young girl, had an unknowingly strange relationship. Anna was conceived solely to be a donor for her older sister Kate. Since her birth Anna has been subjected to countless operations and medical procedures against her free will, permanently altering her quality of life. This particular component of the film built an ethical theme that struck me; genetic engineering. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay With no other easily accessible matches to the Fitzgerald family, Kate's parents decided to have another child through the process of genetic engineering. This process would produce a child from the mother's and father's genes who would be perfect for Kate's needs. The child's development happens like this: technicians can select the multiple embryos that are typically produced with in vitro fertilization and choose those that have the desired genetic characteristics. The embryo selection procedure is known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). When most families choose to custom produce a baby for someone who is seriously ill in their family, they typically only use the newborn's umbilical cord blood with compatible tissue. In today's society there are no reported cases of designer children who have had to donate an organ, however, in the case of Anna and Kate, Anna was definitively tasked with donating one of her kidneys to her sister suffering from leukemia; this is where another ethical theme of self-determination emerges in the film. Anna refuses and decides to look for a lawyer to sue her parents for medical emancipation. This triggers a court case that threatens the Fitzgerald family relationship as a whole. After finally winning the court case against her parents over the rights to her body, Anna is not forced to give her kidney to her sister Kate. However, we see many other operations imposed on Anna throughout the film. We see Anna screaming and crying as she is placed on a medical table and moments later a bone marrow extraction is performed on her. Other operations we see implemented on Anna are frequent blood draws to help keep Kate alive. All in all, the overall premise of the film My Sister's Keeper builds multiple ethical themes that threaten to disturb the morality of viewers. Genetic engineering, the ethical issue that struck me the most, was an unknowingly immoral decision presented to the Fitzgerald family that would affect Anna Fitzgerald's life the moment she was born. After being poked and prodded with needles all her life for blood draws and painful bone marrow extractions, Anna, a thirteen-year-old girl created in a laboratory to be a perfect tissue donor for her older sister who suffers from leukemia, was living an unjust life designed specifically to satisfy the harmful needs of his dying sister.