Saviour Siblings Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is organ donation?
Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person.
What is a saviour sibling?
A saviour sibling is a child who is born to provide an organ or cell transplant to a sibling that is affected with a fatal disease, such as cancer.
What does absolute morality mean?
Absolute morality means that what is right and what is wrong is the same for all people in all situations.
What does relative morality mean?
Relative morality means that what is right and wrong may be different for different people in different situations.
What is sanctity of life?
Sanctity of life is the belief that life is sacred and must be preserved at all costs.
What is quality of life?
Quality of life is how happy and comfortable someone is.
It assists to decide whether their life is worth living.
What are three pros of organ donation/saviour siblings?
- more lives are saved as donors are found for people on registers
- reduced pressure on the NHS treating people for conditions that could be solved with a new organ
- it would mean less difficult decisions need to made about prioritisation as there would be less demand on organs
What are three cons of organ donation/saviour siblings?
Any three of:
- organ donations can reduce the quality of life for those who have donated
- family members might feel pressure to donate organs out of love and responsibility
- someone who donates an organ when young may need it later in life
- organ donation can disagree with personal and religious views
What is agape love?
Agape love is unconditional love - selfless Christian love that Jesus demonstrated by his sacrifice on the cross.
The House of Lords ruled that children under the age of 16 are competent to make certain medical decisions if they have sufficient amounts of two things. What were those two things?
- maturity, takes account of the child’s experiences and the child’s ability to manage influences on their decision making such as information, peer pressure, family pressure, fear and misgivings
- intelligence, takes account of the child’s understanding, ability to weigh risk and benefit, consideration of long-term factors such as effect on family life and on such things as schooling
Does the Roman Catholic Church agree or disagree with designer babies/saviour siblings?
The Roman Catholic Church states that it is against PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) because many embryos are made to get a genetic match to be a saviour sibling. This causes many embryos to be discarded. To create a Saviour Sibling using PGD, you have to discard many totally healthy embryos, just because they are not a perfect DNA match to the unwell sibling. The Roman Catholic Church see this as murder. Catholics believe that life begins at conception, so discarding an embryo is murder as it goes against the biblical verse ‘thou shalt not kill’ (Exodus 20:13).
Additionally, to decide whether someone lives or dies should be the decision of God and goes against the principle of the sanctity of life.
Does the Church of England agree or disagree with designer babies/saviour siblings?
The Church of England is divided. They want to follow the teachings of the Bible but they also want to do the most loving thing and save and preserve life as much as possible, as the sanctity of life. They believe that it is only okay if there is no therapeutic option available for the unwell child, the medical treatment on the saviour sibling involves no more than minor discomfort and the saviour sibling is wanted, loved and cherished as a baby in his or her own right.
