Embryo Diagnosis Essay -- Genetics Science Technology Pregnancy Essays

Embryo Diagnosis Karen and Roger have decided to start a family. Again. It has been nearly six years since their first and only child, Katie, was born, and just over two years since she died. In her four years of life, Katie was plagued with the fatal Tay-sachs disease. Because the enzyme needed to rid her brain of fatty materials was absent at birth, she lost her sight when she was only eighteen months old. Her ability to operate the left side of her body was gone several months later. Understandably, the loss of their daughter devastated the young couple. The difficulty of watching their little girl suffer and knowing it was their genetic makeup that caused her pain made it harder to try having another baby. They honestly didn't know if they could bring another child into a world of hurt and certain death. Breakthroughs in genetic technology has brought hope for healthy children to the distraught couple. Through embryo diagnosis, it is very possible for Karen and Roger to have a baby that is free of the horrible disease. What they struggle with now is whether they believe it is ethically correct. In the fast-paced, ever growing world of genetics, we as a responsible society must take time to scrutinize the new technologies from both ethical and scientific standpoints. The questions we are to answer are both difficult and morally challenging. One such question involves embryo diagnosis. Is it morally correct to pick and choose which embryos are genetically acceptable? On the other hand, how ethical is it to allow a child to be born with a terminal disease, when technologies at hand could have prevented such pain? After looking at both sides, it is my belief that embryo diagnosis can do the human race worlds of go... ...Biosis. What is Genetic Screening? http://www.sci.comm.org.uk/biosis/human/whatis1.html Bonnicksen, Andrea. "Genetic Diagnosis of Human Embryos." Hastings Center Report Jul.-Aug. 1992:s5-10 "Footnotes." Scientific American June 1993: 130 "Healthy Baby is Born After Test for Deadly Gene." The New York Times 28 Jan. 1994:a17 Institute of Medicine. Assessing Genetic Risks National Academy Press Washington D.C. 1994 Kastilahn, Kathleen. "Back to Genesis." The Lutheran Feb. 1993:9-15 Kolata, Gina. "Genetic Defects Detected in Embryos Just Days Old." The New York Times 24 Sept. 1992:a1+ Rinard, Peggy. "Mapping the Inner Frontier." Health Sciences 1992:3-7 Thompson, et al. Genetics in Medicine W.B. Saunders Company, United States. 1991 Wheeler, David L. "War on a Disease." The Chronicle of Higher Learning May 18, 1994 a10-a15.