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Essay / Bioethical Issues in My Sister's Keeper: Taking Your Autonomy to Save Your Sibling life of the patient. It is important for the healthcare provider to consider all factors and what the patient wants regarding their care plan. My Sister's Keeper was a drama film released in 2009, which addressed many ethical issues that caused a dilemma between the family and their children. It is important as a healthcare provider to ensure that the patient maintains their autonomy while informing them of the best options, even if it goes against what they want. The purpose of this article is to discuss how autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice are essential to providing the best patient care while making difficult decisions, and to compare the ethical issues of the films to the problems facing nursing today. to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essaySummaryIn the film, My Sisters Keeper, Kate's parents Sara and Brian Fitzgerald met with her doctors to explore further options to help their daughter Kate lives longer. Kate was a young girl who was diagnosed with leukemia and underwent various procedures to prolong her life. As time went on, she didn't seem to get any better. The doctor suggests that they have a child through in vitro fertilization so that she can be a compatible organ donor for Kate. The family survived and Anna was born in hopes of saving her sister. Over the years, Anna underwent numerous medical procedures without consent. As Anna grew older, she realized she no longer wanted to undergo medical procedures because it was her body. She then decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation so that she can make her own decisions about her body. Anna hires a lawyer who helps her through the process. Throughout the trial, Kate was in the hospital and her condition was getting worse by the day. Before the trial ended, everyone found out why Anna decided to emancipate herself. Kate had encouraged Anna to continue with the process because she was tired of all the surgeries and pain. She wanted to end it and the only way to do that was to not proceed with the kidney transplant. Kate ultimately died before the decision was made. Eventually, Anna became medically emancipated after Kate's death. Ethical Issues in the Film Several bioethical issues emerge throughout the film. Designer babies are babies who are scientifically designed in vitro for specific characteristics to prevent or cure diseases. Designer babies can be used for different reasons, such as preventing certain genes in a baby, for example cystic fibrosis. This can eventually lead to using designer babies for unethical reasons, such as choosing eye color or deciding the gender of the baby. In My Sisters Keeper, Anna's parents abused the in vitro fertilization process by conceiving a child whose sole purpose was to be a donor. Anna was born only so that she could help save her sister by undergoing procedures such as bone marrow transplants and organ transplants. Anna's parents didn't seem to appreciate risking Anna's life as long as it saved Kate. In the film, his parents never worried about the risks and harmwhat this could cause to Anna. During the trial, Anna's lawyer emphasized that Anna was never consulted before each procedure. Anna's family always prioritized Kate while ignoring Anna's health and the personal problems of Jesses, who was Anna's older brother. In the film, there were other obvious ethical questions such as: Is a child capable of creating his own medical problems? Sara thought Anna was "too young" to understand what was happening, but nonetheless made her own decisions. She refused to let Anna decide what procedures she can refuse. Another question that stood alone was when will it ever be enough to stop using a child for the sole purpose of saving a life? Is it ethical to have a child just to save another? Sara and Brian didn't seem to have a problem having Anna for one purpose. In this movie, Anna was never asked how she felt about undergoing different procedures. Many of these ethical issues still arise in nursing today and it is important to resolve them before making a decision regarding the plan of care. Chronic childhood illnesses have implications for the psychosocial well-being of children and their families. This is why it is important to communicate with the patient about their feelings, as this can affect different aspects of their well-being.AutonomyIn nursing, it is important to promote the patient's right to autonomy. Autonomy means allowing patients to make their own decision even if this means refusing treatment. Even if some doctors do not agree with the decisions, they must still respect them. Patients have the right to determine what they think is best for them and how they choose to make decisions regarding their health. In the movie My Sisters Keeper, Anna has had no autonomy her entire life. She was constantly undergoing medical procedures like blood transfusions to try to keep her sister alive and prolong her life. Anna never had a choice when it came to her body. She was never given the opportunity to refuse any procedure and was never consulted about how she felt. Anna's parents were too busy with Kate's illness to even think about the impact these procedures had on Anna's life. Anna never gave consent to any of these procedures, leading her to grow tired of them and refuse the kidney transplant. Eventually, she grew tired of the constant decisions being made for her and not having a say in what happened with her body. So she sued her parents for medical emancipation. Anna's mother told her that she was just a child and had no idea what she was doing. “A child's capacity to consent must be assessed on a case-by-case basis and will depend on the complexity of the proposed treatment and the child's stage of intellectual development” (Taylor 2014). This is exactly what happened in Anna's case. She underwent a trial in which she was evaluated to see if she was competent to make her own decisions. Ultimately, her wish to be medically emancipated was granted. Beneficence Beneficence was an ethical principle also demonstrated in this film. Charity is an act done for the benefit of others. In this case, beneficence was shown when Sara and Brian agreed to conceive a child solely to save their daughter Kate. To Sara and Brian, this seemed like their best option. This prolonged Kate's life and allowed her to spend more time with them. They didn't see the risks and pain that Anna would go through. Their judgment was cloudedby Kate's situation and nothing else seemed to matter. Anna's birth would benefit Kate from the day she was born. Anna's parents saw no harm in it and did not hesitate to do it. These procedures were never good for Anna's health, but they were beneficial for Kate's life. Nonmaleficence Nonmaleficence is the act of doing no harm. In the movie My Sisters Keeper, non-maleficence was not shown. Everyone was so worried about Kate and her health that no one seemed to care or ask Anna how she felt about having procedures growing up. Her parents automatically assumed that because she was his sister, she was going to accept him anyway. Sara's actions were the opposite of what the principle of non-maleficence means. She put Anna through unnecessary suffering just to save her eldest daughter. Throughout the film, Anna was hurt for the sake of her sister. Many of these problems could have been avoided if Anna's birth had been thought through more clearly. Kate's agreement to proceed with in vitro fertilization simply considering Kate's health was poor. Many other factors should have been considered, but his decision was very impulsive. “Decision making regarding transplantation, donation, and the creation of a “savior sibling” for a sick child cannot be made by a clinician alone and cannot be based simply on a thoughtful analysis of risk equations. -benefit, whether by the clinician or the parent. . It's understandable why Sara and Brian chose to have a "savior baby," but it was obvious that they didn't care enough about how these procedures would harm Anna in the future. Saunders (2017) believes that parents should consider their child's well-being as well as how it will affect others. One can slightly agree with this statement, but in this case, no one seems to be too concerned about the possible harm that one of these procedures could cause to Anna or her health. JusticeJustice is the action of treating people fairly. Towards the end of the film, Anna gets justice after fighting against her mother Sara. Anna had to go through various trials before a decision could be made. Anna realized that she was going against her mother's wishes and knew that she would create problems within her family members and she still held on until the end. Anna was seen more as a "savior baby" constantly undergoing medical procedures to try to save her sister. In the long run, no one cared about the damage she had suffered or the traumatic experiences she had as a young girl. It’s obvious that toddlers are afraid of needles. We can only imagine how Anna felt when she was little. It was later learned that Kate did not want to undergo any more surgeries and was ready to die in peace. It was right to allow Anna to keep her organs while respecting Kate's decision. Current Ethical Issues Several ethical issues arise in the field of nursing. Informed consent is an important process that a patient must complete before a procedure can take place. It is an agreement between the surgeon and the patient. Once the patient understands the procedure and the risks, they can accept it. The nurse must ensure that the patient maintains his or her autonomy. A surgeon must promote beneficence while allowing the patient to be autonomous. There may be a dilemma when the patient refuses treatment even though the doctor knows it helps the patient get better. A nurse's job during informed consent is to maintain autonomy and
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