MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

ABSTRACT
In the past two decades, developments in medical technology have given parents the opportunity to save their child suffering from a life-threatening medical condition through the creation of a savior sibling. Savior siblings are conceived through in vitro fertilization with the purpose of donating genetic material such as blood or bone marrow to an existing dying sibling. The United Kingdom has a regulatory agency called the Human Fertilization and Embryo Authority (HFEA) which has set specific criteria in order to regulate the use of savior children and protect the well-being of each savior child on a case by case basis. However, the United States lacks a similar regulatory agency. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to inform medical students and doctors about the importance of long-term wrap-around care to help prevent the harmful risks that savior children could experience. In this paper, I will examine several case studies which summarize the motivations parents have for creating a savior child. I will also review a research study on the psychosocial effects donating bone marrow can have on donor siblings. The results show that donor siblings were subjected to feelings of isolation and post-traumatic stress disorder. Although savior children can potentially save the life of their dying siblings, the risk of psychosocial harm savior children could experience suggests a dire need for long-term wrap-around care.

READER’S PROFILE
This is a medical student who is on the fence about long-term wrap-around care as the best way to protect the well-being of a savior child.

READER’S RESPONSE
I could definitely see the benefits of long-term wrap-around care for families with savior children. However, it should not be sole the responsibility of the hospital after the child is born to ensure that their well-being is protected. This is why families who are choosing to create savior children should be assessed before their conception to ensure that they are being brought up in environments that do not encourage their exploitation and commodification. In addition, assessing families before savior sibling conception could also eliminate the possibility that they would be viewed with a predisposed purpose in mind. I am just not completely convinced that wrap-around care after savior children are born is the best way to ensure their well-being. It should be used in conjunction with other resources.

R, you may want to address this reader by noting that people chose to have children for many reasons and that in US law and culture, we pretty much stay silent on this choice. In other words, no person or institution can regulate this choice. Families will not be assessed, for this savior child conception.

Families can be offered social work intervention to discuss this situation, which might satisfy the reader's wish for some sort of institutional guidance.