Oh Yeah, and You'll Get a Little Brother, Too

Yahoo! News - Britain Loosens Rules on Embryo Screening: "After a months-long review and a meeting Wednesday, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said it would let couples with a sick child test embryos conceived during fertility treatment and pick one to implant in the uterus that matched the older child's tissue type. ...

Joe and Julie Fletcher, of County Down in Northern Ireland, toasted the decision with champagne."

Putting aside for a minute the whole "eugenics slippery slope," can we think here about what this is going to do to the state of mind of the child born only to provide tissues to save the older sibling's life? While some might become convinced that they're deserving of great importance as a lifesaver, "lifesaver" is a very one-dimesional raison d'etre. Won't these kids feel rather used? I mean, people are sensitive enough when they hear their birth was "an accident" -- how would you like living with the knowledge that you were born not because your parents wanted you but because your parents wanted your older sibling twice over?

What a mess of family issues. I foresee therapy.