Ifugao State University Nayon, Lamut, Ifugao
Graduate School College of Health Sciences
“MY SISTER’S KEEPER”
Submitted to: LESLIE ANN H. MONAYAO, RN, RM, MAN, CRN Submitted by: BRIGITTE U. BUMANGHAT
January 3, 2014
MY SISTER’S KEEPER SUMMARY My Sister's Keeper is a story about a loving family who has to undergo painful sacrifices and challenges to make their family stronger. Brian and Sarah Fitzgerald had three children, Kate, Jesse and Ana. Kate was diagnosed with leukemia at age four which made her parents to have another child, Ana. Ana Fitzgerald was genetically engineered, conceived, and born to be a perfect donor of body parts to her sister’s needs, thus, ethical dilemma aroused. The condition of Kate Fitzgerald, affected all members of the family including works, responsibilities, rights and even obligations to each other. Sarah, quit her job as a lawyer and will do anything to keep Kate alive in the extent of using Ana. Jesse has dyslexia when he was young that his parents didn’t focus much because of Kate’s condition. The serious issue in the story was when Kate’s kidney wasn’t functioning well and this leads to the situation that Ana must have to donate her other kidney to her sister in order for her to survive. Ana decided to sue her parents for the rights of her own body. The family was much affected for what had Ana did. Sarah cannot accept the decision of her daughter that she even strikes her across the face when she received the notice about the case. At an early age, Ana had been donating parts of her body to Kate and her mother let her believed that it is her duty to help her sister. This made it hard for Ana to CONTRADICT the decisions of her parents regardless of the complications and the risk of acquiring infection. What her parents don’t know was that it was Kate who was behind Ana’s movements. Kate was ready to die for her own good but her overprotective mother cannot let her go. It is Kate’s way to let her parents realize that it is time to let her go. Sarah faced the case but still she has been so stubborn and it seems like she did not yet realized that Ana has been suffering from complications just to keep her sister alive. During a session, Jesse interrupted and revealed that it was Kate who asked Ana for the favor. Kate had been telling that she wants to go but Sarah did not want to hear about it.
One evening, Kate and Sarah was left alone in the hospital; Kate gave Sarah a scrapbook that she made herself. It was a memory from the time she had leukemia until her death. And during that night, Kate passed away. It’s hard for Sarah but eventually she accepted. Ana won the case in the end and her mother went back to work. After that, every year during Kate’s birthday, the family takes a vacation on the same place that Kate loves. REACTION At first, you would think that the story is all about Ana Fitzgerald and her fight to be medically emancipated but in the end it was all about a family that is falling apart trying to fight the situation of having a dying family member. I was fascinated by one phrase in the movie, “on the surface everything seems to be alright, but in truth, the issues underneath it all are still ugly and terrifying, and it is driving us apart.” Other people may see them to be just fine but in reality their situation is really tough especially when the ethical dilemma aroused. The ethical dilemma I’m talking about worsened when Ana had sued her parents for medical emancipation. It was a dilemma for the family because they are fighting for two issues, the case and the situation where Kate is dying from leukemia. It seems like as Kate is dying, the family also dies. Sarah was so stubborn to save Kate’s life while Ana is fighting for the rights to her own body. Sarah fighting for her daughter’s life is understandable because no mother would just let their children suffer and die. But Sarah was so focused on Kate’s situation that she doesn’t care about anything else. It seems like Kate is the only person that is very much important to her. This is one reason why Sarah failed to realize that Ana is also her daughter and she is risking her life for complications just to help her sister. What if Ana donated her kidney and it did not work so it’s just useless. Sarah did not think that in Ana’s case it is harmful for her health because she had undergone frequent donations. During the case, Ana’s lawyer asked the question, “But who stands up for Ana?” It was like an eye opener for Brian and Sarah.
Unlike her other family members who listened and accepted Kate’s wishes and asked to provide her the quality of life that she needs, it took Sarah until the last minute to accept the unavoidable situation of Kate and to finally release her. IMPLICATION TO NURSING This movie seems to point out that it is essential for a nurse to help or guide a family who is undergoing such crisis. Since situations like this requires multiple levels of support, nurses can help the family to cope up with the situation by referring them to counselors or be counselors themselves. Nurses can also assist families by anticipating concerns. Since the movie is all about leukemia, I would like to point this implication to oncology nursing. The nurse has to take into consideration the situation of being in oncology department. They have to deal with tough situations especially when it’s a life and death situation. It is their duty to be there for the patient and the family when they need them not forgetting ethics and nurse-patient relationship. Nurses must be tough during situations like this in order for them to help the family cope and not cope with family. When patients ask them questions, nurses must always be patient to answer patient’s questions. Nurses must be critical in providing accurate information, education and anticipatory guidance. Lastly, I would like to share this quote from a blog that I have read. “An oncology ward is a battlefield, and there are definite hierarchies of command. The nurses, they're the ones doing the tour of duty. The doctors breeze in and out like conquering heroes, but they need to read your child's chart to remember where they've left off from the previous visit. It is the nurses who are the seasoned sergeants -- the ones who are there when your baby is shaking with such a high fever she needs to be bathed in ice, the ones who can teach you how to flush a central venous catheter, or suggest which patient floor might still have Popsicles left to be stolen, or tell you which dry cleaners know how to remove the stains of blood and chemotherapies from clothing. The nurses know the name of your daughter's stuffed walrus and show her how to make tissue paper flowers to twine around her IV stand. The doctor's may be mapping out the war games, but it is the nurses who make the conflict bearable.”
