Analysis of Ethical Dilemma: A Case of Posthumous Conception – Interview and Recommendations
Introduction
Technological advancements have made it possible for people to have children long after they are dead. Posthumous conception occurs due to the possibility of harvesting and storing sperms and ovum. However, the practice comes with numerous legal and ethical challenges and has far reaching implications socially and morally. To understand the situation better, we interviewed four stakeholders regarding the issue of embryo harvesting, freezing genetic manipulation and posthumous conception. The experts who were interviewed are, Mrs. Jameson, a Nurse practitioner specializing in family care and chair of a hospital ethics committee, Mr. McCay, a lawyer who specializes on family law, wills and testaments, Mrs. Judith, a single parent and beneficially of posthumous conception and Mrs. Katherine, a church pastor who also runs a shelter for abused women. From the interviews various recommendations are made.
Recommendations
No one argues on the benefits of embryo harvesting. However there is a need to control gene manipulation. This can be done by clearly defining when life begins so that all harvested embryos are used and are not killed because they have characteristics that the mother does not want (Bahadur, 2002). The medical practitioners such as nurses and the legal practitioners who face the ethical issues regarding posthumous conception should lead in policy formulation to guide the procedure. At the very minimum, the dead farther should have given consent for use of his sperms after his death. This is because people choose to store sperms for many reasons and storing sperms is not consent for their use after the owner dies (Patrizio & Caplan, 2010). Where consent cannot be reliably established, there should be uniform guidelines that govern the conduct of ethics committees when reviewing such cases. The procedure is safe and agreeable to certain cultures and should be implemented on a case-by-case evaluation. For the nurses, they should always act in keeping with the nursing code of ethics. Part of protecting life means protecting the women from mental suffering that can come with the notion of killing embryos that do not have the genetically desired character traits. Nurses should be on the forefront to advocate against genetic manipulation which would make acquiring a baby similar to shopping with genetic screening to ensure a mother gets the child she wishes for down to issues such as height and eye color.
References
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Patrizio, P., & Caplan, A. L. (2010). Ethical issues surrounding fertility preservation in cancer
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