Science and technology has paved way for improvements in the field of medicine at this time. A significant amount of new information about diseases and treatments has been discovered due to the technological advances in the medical field. This has allowed patients and their families to hope for better recovery and treatments and to trust their lives to science even more. However, there are those who believe that these technological advances are far too much and are becoming too interfering to health care and the natural way of life and death.
One such example is the use of “in-vitro fertilization, then using even newer technology to pick and choose from the resulting embryos, they each spent years trying to have a baby whose marrow was guaranteed to be an ideal genetic fit” (Belkin 1). This was done to save the lives of children who have genetic and fatal diseases. It is found that the process would allow physicians to “pick out” the best embryo to be born so that it can help treat their sibling’s illnesses.
Resistance can be felt from ethicists who asked questions regarding the morality of the situation. “There was talk in the news media of ”Frankenstein medicine” and threats by Congress to ban embryo research, which had made this technique possible” (Belkin 1). For them, a child born to just become a treatment to his or her sibling is not ethical. There is something wrong with genetically engineering an embryo to make it such that the embryo does not have any diseases and is a perfect fit for its sibling who has a terminal illness. What these ethicists do not understand, however, is that parents and families of children who have such diseases will do just about anything to save the lives of their children. This is difficult to comprehend if one does not have first hand experience of the situation.
Personally, I believe that there is nothing wrong with using this technique to save one’s child. If this is the only thing that can save my child or at least treat him or her for the time being, I would probably not hesitate to do it. There is nothing wrong with doing anything and everything to make sure that my child undergoes all the possible treatments just so that I can end his or her pain and suffering. However, I would have to point out that there is such thing as too much where a person is already “playing God.” Parents and families who decide to support this technology should know when they should stop and let the child go through life and death the natural way.
I would also have to point out that there is nothing wrong with “picking out” an embryo as long as the parents do not see this only as a “savior” to the current child who is ill. I support Dr. Hughes when he indicated that he would only perform the procedure if the child being created is wanted by the family because “did not want to create a baby who was nothing but a donor” (Belkin 5). The use of the technology would be going too far if families would only want to create a child to become donors to the child who is ill. It is important that conditions such as this be created with the use of this technology because this would control and prevent families and physicians to “play God.”
There is no doubt that technology has had its benefits to society. Technology has made life easier for most of us. However, we should remember that it should not control our lives and should not be used to manipulate the natural course of life. People should know when to stop and give up and when to move on.
Work Cited
Belkin, Lisa. “The Made-to-Order Savior.” The New York Times. 1 July 2001. 22 April 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/magazine/the-made-to-order-savior.html? pagewanted=1>
