My Sister's Keeper Choices

If your sister wanted to borrow five dollars, what would you do? What if she wanted to borrow your car? Neither of those are life and death decisions, but they still might be difficult choices (especially if your sister is only sixteen with a learner's permit). Now what if your sister needed an organ? And not the giant one at the church, but a kidney? In a way, that choice might be easier to make than letting your terrible driver of a sister borrow your car. "Of course I'd give her my kidney!" you say—anything to save a loved one's life.

My Sister's Keeper complicates things because Anna doesn't want to give her kidney to her sister. She's tired of being forced to give her blood and plasma. But for Anna, it's less about wanting to kill her sister, and more about just being given the choice.

Questions About Choices

1. Should Anna have the right to choose whether or not to donate her kidney to Kate?
2. Is Sara making the right choice by wanting Anna to donate her kidney?
3. Why doesn't anyone ever ask Kate what she wants until the very end?
4. Why did Campbell decide to leave Julia in college? What do you think of this choice?

Chew on This

Anna's whole lawsuit is purportedly about fighting for her right to choose what she does with her body, but the truth is that the lawsuit isn't even her choice—it's Kate's.

Anna still doesn't get any control over her own body (even if she had lived) because Campbell gets power of attorney over her medical decisions until she's eighteen.