Use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis to produce tissue donors: an irreconcilable dichotomy?

Abstract

In 2002, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published its decision in the case of Raj and Shahana Hashmi. The couple had sought to use preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to have a child that could be a viable donor for their son, Zain, who has thalassaemia. The HFEA decided that PGD could, in the present case, go ahead. Later in 2002, the HFEA reached the opposite decision in the superficially similar case of Michelle and Jayson Whitaker. This paper will present a critical overview of the decisions of the HFEA in these two cases, and of the opinions and discussions the HFEA published in support thereof. Although it is acknowledged that the two cases differ to some extent in their facts, it is argued that the difference upon which the HFEA relied is one without ethical significance.