Ten years ago, Tom Davis was married to Jen Miller. Tom and Jen were successful and happy in their life together for the first year. Tom had been promoted and Jen had changed jobs for a pay increase and better hours. They had just bought their first house. It was a small three bedroom ranch style house. One bedroom they converted to an office so that Tom and Jen would be able to keep up with family and work from the comfort of their home. One bedroom was theirs and the other they decided to make into a nursery because they had decided to try to have a baby. After a year of trying to get pregnant, Jen and Tom decided to seek medical help. After another full year of hormone therapy, Tom and Jen were ready to give up. Tom and Jen did not give up and tried a number of different specialist's suggestions over the next two years.
Five years ago after not being successful with any other method, Tom
and Jen decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF). After a
number of attempts, fifteen eggs were successfully fertilized. Three of
those eggs were implanted and eight months later Jen gave birth to
twins, but only one survived. Tom and Jen requested that the surplus
embryos be
frozen for possible further
implantation at a later stage.
The IVF clinic at the hospital suggested no other uses for the embryos
at the time that Tom and Jen made this request.
Tragically, Tom and Jen died in an automobile accident just a year later. Two years after their death, the IVF clinic tried to contact the couple to determine their wishes concerning the disposition of the frozen embryos, and at this point learned of their deaths. A research group in the hospital was actively researching therapies for spinal cord injuries. The researchers had already submitted a proposal to the hospital Ethics Committee to be allowed to use stem cells derived from frozen embryos for research in spinal cord regeneration therapy and the project had been approved.
The Director of the research team approached the IVF clinic to see
whether they had surplus frozen embryos that they might use. The head
of this clinic had a very difficult decision to make with regards to
the twelve surplus embryos Tom and Jen left behind. The head of
the clinic set up a meeting with his ethics advisor, laboratory
director, and members of the Board of Directors to help make this
decision.
NOVA:
The Stem Cell Debate
National
Association for the Mentally Ill: A Review of Stem Cell Research
on Spinal Cord Injury
American
Association for the Advancement of Science Stem Cell Information
Stem
Cells:
Scientific Progress and Future Research Direct
NIH
Stem
Cell Information: Primer on Stem Cells
Science
News Online Article on Stem Cell Use in Mouse Spinal Cord
British
Science Museum: Stem Cell Debate
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©Copyright 2003, Adam Hott |
