Comments on Answers to Case Study Analysis

Posted: September 9th, 2013

Comments on Answers to Case Study Analysis

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Comment on Answers to Case Study Analysis

I agree with the response that adoption is a better option for couples that cannot have a child of their own. Couples that have the financial and emotional will to support a child can make a family through adoption. Many children need love, care and a family to take care of them. This eliminates one of the ethics revolving around reproduction issues, concerning technological methods of reproduction. It sounds better to be adopted than to be born out of technological methods. Additionally, this solves the ethics of adultery where the couple is married and ready to take care of a child (McNaughton, 2009).

Although adoption is one of the best ways for couples that cannot have children, as a mother it is hard to part with one’s child. When a woman gives birth to a child and takes care of it, a physical connection forms between the two, making them inseparable. In this case, the father to the child, Mr. Stern, has a right to the child as well as the biological mother. Thus, it is quite a hard decision for Mrs. Whitehead to give away her child considering is a good mother. However, she must consider that she gave birth to the child for Mr. Stern, which gives him the right to take the child. On the hand, the Stern family should never have let that child stay with the biological mother for that long. The connection created makes it hard to part with the child. I further agree with the response that if the Sterns wanted to have a child they should have tried to do it themselves, and having a surrogate mother should have been the last option. This further brings in some of the religious ethics concerning reproduction where the couple will have engaged in adultery (McNaughton, 2009). Mr. Stern and Mrs. Whitehead are both married to other partners, and they had a child.

The issue concerning suing Mrs. Whitehead over the right to the child is not a good way of solving the conflict. She is a mother with much love for a child she carried in her womb for nine months and has taken care of for a few months. On the other hand, Mr. Stern is the father and has a right to the child. Solving the issue without involving the court is better where both would have a win-win situation. It would be better to have the mother visit the child regularly. The interest of the child should be the first thing to consider a part from personal interests.

In the second response, it is clear that both families are not in the best conditions of taking care of a child. In the case of Mrs. Whitehead, her family is not financially stable to accord the best care for the child. Additionally, she has other children to care for. On the other hand, Mr. Stern is suffering from some psychological disturbances while his wife is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This puts the couple at a disadvantage as well since they have to take care of their health. However, they are financially stable and capable of taking care of the child. Therefore, when making the decision over whom to keep custody of the child, the interests of the child are the best to consider. In this case, the interests of the child are best at Stern’s family that can offer that child what it requires.

I agree with the response over the issue of surrogacy where the surrogate mother is considered and offered some financial support. However, it should not seem like a way of selling a child. A child cannot be valued in monetary term. Additionally, Mrs. Whitehead loves the child. However, she had already agreed to give out the child at the start before she became pregnant. The response further states that many states disagree with the issue of artificial reproduction. I also agree with the response that adoption is the best method for couples that have no ability to have children. Adoption does not raise many ethical issues as artificial reproduction does. In most cases, the child will have been born in the natural way, and probably the parents are dead or cannot raise a child.

When it comes to artificial reproduction, many people will have children that are not their’s biologically, which is the same as adoption. Therefore, if there are children available for adoption, there is no need of having a child artificially where it might not be one’s biological child. Artificial reproduction should only be used where either one partner has a problem or they cannot reproduce normally. As the response suggests, it should only apply where the man has lazy sperms or the woman has obstructed fallopian tubes. In this case, using artificial means to fertilize the egg of the woman with the partners sperm would be okay since the child will be their’s biologically. Therefore, artificial means should only come in when a couple has viable reproductive cells but for one reason they cannot reproduce. Otherwise, as the response says, adoption is the best means of having a child for couple that cannot reproduce.

References

McNaughton, M. (2009). Ethics and reproduction. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 162 (4), 879-882.