[Solved] Genetically conceived children

I didn't see the programme, but of course the NHS should fund it if it means a child's life can be saved.

The NHS should spend less on corporate lunches for millions of middle managers if they want to save a million or ten. I think if people really want a child and physically can't, then there are lots of other children out there who need a parent so they could look at adoption or fostering.

I didn't see the programme, but of course the NHS should fund it if it means a child's life can be saved.

j_c it isn't quite that simple, all the parents involved were physically able to conceive, the process involved IVF, tissue matching and gene testing - all for 100/1 chance of producing a child so that the bone marrow could be used to save an existing child. The cost of each course of treatment is 7k - a small amount to save a childs life but as we saw with the doctors family (who were paying privately) after 5 courses of IVF and 35k spent they were no nearer success.

Both families situations were terribly sad but I don't think the NHS can afford to pay for this - its a 100/1 gamble at 7k a pop and each attempt is 100/1 no matter how many times its repeated.

I saw the program and thought it was really interesting. Last years film "My Sister's Keeper" was about exactly this same subject but different illness - A daughter being born through IVF to be a genetic match for her older sister. The film looks at the situation through all the view points of the different members of the family - the one view point that stuck in my mind though was that of Anna, the younger sister who always had the nagging suspicion that she was only born to provide spare parts for her sister.

The trailer for the film can be found here.

Details for the film are here

Really hard, I guess I would have to err on the side of: we have a budget to save and improve health, how does that benefit the most people.

I suspect that this sort of cost falls outside of the main stream... However, I do think that this is the sort of research and development we should be carrying out as a nation because the long term benefits of such work are probably a very good investment. V. tricky

The hard part of life is that death comes to us all at the end. I can't begin to imagine the pain/anger/depths of love that a parent would face in the circumstances outlined in this situation. However the country can't sustain an NHS who are paying to keeep everyone alive for ever. Where do we draw the line? (not a job i would want!)

Yeah it's a very tricky one. I see so much waste in the NHS that I still feel it's worth it. The NHS actually isn't short of money and it's propaganda when the media / government say they can't afford things. The route of it is that the government is not interested in investing in children or the future health / wellbeing of people.

Some of the salaries some of the managers are on in the NHS is criminal I think compared to what nurses and some frontline health professionals get. It's true though about how the other child would feel when they find out the motivation for having them.