Am I My Brother's Keeper - The Use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis to Create a Donor of Transplantable Stem Cells for an Older Sibling Suffering from a Genetic Disorder
![handle is hein.journals/gmlr13 and id is 989 raw text is: 2006]
AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? THE USE OF
PREIMPLANTATION GENETIC DIAGNOSIS TO CREATE
A DONOR OF TRANSPLANTABLE STEM CELLS FOR AN
OLDER SIBLING SUFFERING FROM A GENETIC
DISORDER
Donna M Gitter*
INTRODUCTION
Unprecedented advances in genetic screening, combined with innova-
tions in assisted reproductive technology, have raised complex legal, ethi-
cal, and public policy questions both in the United States and abroad. On
August 29, 2000, the birth in Colorado of a baby named Adam Nash illu-
minated the issues raised when these technologies are used in tandem.' The
unusual fact of Adam's birth was not that he was conceived via in vitro
fertilization (IVF),2 a technology that had already been pioneered in Eng-
land over twenty years before with the 1978 birth of Louise Brown.' In-
* Assistant Professor of Legal and Ethical Studies, Fordham University Schools of Business;
J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School; B.A., Cornell University. E-mail: gitter@fordham.edu.
I wish to express sincere gratitude to Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, Maas Family Chair in Bioethics and Di-
rector of the Center for Bioethics at University of Minnesota, who so graciously answered my many
inquiries about his work. I also appreciate the able research assistance of Hannah Amoah, Lisa
Brubaker, Jeffrey Franco, Samuel Mok, and Jannie Villacorta, as well as the generous support provided
by the Fordham University Schools of Business. Most of all, this article could not have been completed
without the encouragement of my husband, Jordan L. Dentz, and the patience of our son, Gabriel Ezra
Gitter-Dentz.
1 See Vida Foubister, Ethicists Debate New Use of Genetic Testing, 44 AMER. MED. NEWS 22,
22(2001).
2 IVF is a method of assisted reproduction whereby a team of reproductive specialists combines a
man's sperm and a woman's eggs (oocytes) in a laboratory dish, thereby producing a fertilized egg. The
team typically transfers two to four fertilized eggs, called zygotes, to the uterus a few days later. If any
of the zygotes implant successfully and become embryos, the pregnancy progresses as it would natu-
rally. See American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Fact Sheet: In Vitro Fertilization (IVF),
http://www.asrm.org/Patients/FactSheets/invitro.html (last visited May 11, 2005) [hereinafter ASRM
IVF Fact Sheet].
3 See Sozos J. Fasouliotis & Joseph G. Schenker, Ethics and Assisted Reproduction, 90 EUR. J.
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY AND REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY 171, 176 (2000) (citation omitted). Ac-
cording to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, IVF was first used successfully in the
United States in 1981. ASRM1VF Fact Sheet, supra note 2. From its inception until mid-2004, IVF had
led to the births of over one million people worldwide. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority,](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/gmlr13&div=39&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most