History Literature / MySistersKeeper

** The fact that a possible donor is underage doesn't mean that since they are too young to donate, then it's their tutor to decide. Instead, the fact that someone is too young to be considered able to understand means that no one can take that decision at all! For this, parents cannot force their children to donate organs or (in most cases) bone marrow against their will. And even if the children give their consent, most hospitals won't accept solid organ donations from anyone under 18.
** In real life, a patient like Kate would have no chance of receiving an organ transplant. First, let's clarify that any transplanted organ, except that of a homozygous twin, will eventually be rejected. The fact that Anna is Kate's savior sibling only means that her organs are less likely to be rejected right from the start, and if the transplant is successful, they will probably be rejected after a longer-than-average period of time, but they will still be rejected, sooner or later. Then a transplant is done only if it is the only way for the recipient to live many years thanks to it. In order to create this condition, it's necessary that the patient is as healthy as possible at the time of the procedure and after it, and this includes eliminating the factors/diseases that caused their organ to fail in the first place, such as alcoholism in liver transplants or smoking in lung ones. Since Kate's kidney failure was caused by PML, which would not have been cured by the transplant, the chances of the new kidney being immediately damaged were too high to consider the procedure worthwhile.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The book portrays savior siblings as being born specifically to be life long donors to their siblings and with no legal ability to refuse. In reality, the only thing taken from most savior siblings is their umbilical cord, which contains stem cells that can have major rejuvenating properties for the sick siblings. After that, parents cannot force their children to donate organs or bone marrow against their will. And even if the child gives their consent, most hospitals won't accept organ donations from anyone under 18. Moreover, considering Kate's state of health, hardly any hospital or transplant board would have forced Anna to donate, because every transplanted organ, unless from a homozygous twin, is eventually rejected: the fact that Anna is a saviour sister only means that her organs will be less likely to be rejected from the start, and if the transplant is successful, they will be rejected after a longer than average period of time, but they will still be rejected sooner or later. So it's quite unrealistic to force a thirteen year old to donate an organ that will have so few chances, especially on the long term, of saving the receiver's life.

* BalancingDeathsBooks: While it's never explicitly stated to be true, [[spoiler:Kate states in the books epilogue that she and the rest of the family believe that this trope was in effect -- that Kate's miraculous survival is because Anna took Kate's place in death when she died in the car crash.]]

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The book portrays savior siblings as being born specifically to be life long donors to their siblings and with no legal ability to refuse. In reality, the only thing taken from most savior siblings is their umbilical cord, which contains stem cells that can have major rejuvenating properties for the sick siblings. After that, parents cannot force their children to donate organs or bone marrow against their will. And even if the child gives their consent, most hospitals won't accept organ donations from anyone under 18. Moreover, considering Kate's state of health, hardly any hospital or transplant board would have forced Anna to donate, because every transplanted organ, unless from a homozygous twin, is eventually rejected: the fact that Anna is a saviour sister only means that her organs will be less likely to be rejected from the start, and if the transplant is successful, they will be rejected after a longer than average period of time, but they will still be rejected sooner or later. So it's quite unrealistic to force a thirteen year old to donate an organ that will have so few chances, especially on the long term, of saving the reciever's life.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Anna wins the lawsuit. On her way to the hospital to see Kate she is in a car accident that leaves her brain dead. Alexander decides her kidney should be donated to Kate which saves Kate's life. So Sara gets what she wanted -- Kate gets to live -- but it comes at the cost of her younger daughter's life, and there are no guarantees Kate will stay in remission.]]

* NiceGirl: Anna is one, despite her persistence in filing for medical emancipation (knowing that her sister will die if she does so). [[spoiler: In fact, the only reason she's going to court in the first place is that the suicidal Kate ''asked''.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Campbell Alexander (as he is a seemingly healthy man who requires a service dog to be around him at all times). Averted near the end of the book, when [[spoiler: we figure out that he's epileptic.]]

* DesignerBabies: Anna is probably a more realistic example of this trope.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The book ends with [[DebateAndSwitch Anna dying in a car crash]] and her organs being harvested for Kate, while Sara gets her way yet again.]]
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: In the present Sara's hair is long and straight. When it shows Kate, Anna and Jesse as children it is longer and curly. In the ending scenes it is cut short.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* HeelFaceTurn: Campbell.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* HighSchoolSweethearts: Campbell and Julia.
* TheIdealist: Averted with Anna Fitzgerald, who has a pretty realistic outlook on the both court case and her sister's imminent death, particularly for a thirteen-year-old.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Like many of Picoult's fictional mothers, Sara has this trait. For most of the book, she believes that Anna has filed the lawsuit to ''annoy'' her. She's genuinely surprised when Kate reveals how she actually feels, and her first thought when she is confronted with her daughter's fate -- [[spoiler: Anna's brain-dead, organ-harvested body]] is not "my poor baby" but "what do you call a parent [[spoiler:who's lost a child?]]"

* ParentalFavoritism: There are countless examples. The mother, Sara, mainly cares about Kate and Kate only. She only cares about Anna because she can help Kate. Here are the more depressing examples.
** While pregnant with Anna, she hadn't even thought of a name, she was more happy with the thought that the baby would help Kate. It is only until the book progresses that Sara does learn to love the real Anna more.
** Kate needs more lymphocytes from Anna. The appointment falls during her friend's birthday party and Anna is allowed to stay for half of the party. As Sara is taking Anna to the car, she asks why she had to leave. Sara is so angry because "[her] sister is more important than cake and ice cream", that she tells Anna to stop acting like a five-year-old. Anna ''was'' five at the time.
** The oldest son Jesse is neglected after it is found out he is not a genetic match for Kate. Sara finds it hard to feel sorry when he, a 6-year-old, gets his blood tested to see if he is a match for Kate. As a result, he becomes a chain smoker and a [[spoiler: PyroManiac.]]
** Another example with Jesse: at one point Sara is too depressed over Kate to take Jesse to shop for new cleats as she had promised, and tells him they won't be going. Jesse gets upset and points out that she isn't even doing anything, and Sara screams at him until he runs upstairs upset. When Sara later goes up to apologize to him, she discovers that Jesse has ''used a fork to pull out his braces'', and he says to her, "Now you never have to take me anywhere."

* PyroManiac: The unnamed criminal who Brian and the rest oft he firemen have nicknamed "The Arsonist". It later turns out to be [[spoiler: Jesse]].
* RaceLift: Sarah and Suzanne Fitzgerald were black women in the book (and all of Sarah's children were mixed). In the movie, the entire Fitzgerald family is depicted as white.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: In the original novel, at least. Anna's battle for medical emancipation is proven pointless when she [[spoiler:dies in a car accident and both her kidneys are harvested for her older sister.]]
* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: Campbell (Anna's lawyer) and Julia's relationship.

* TheUnfavorite: Jesse, and to a lesser extent, Anna. See ParentalFavoritism above.
* UselessBystanderParent: Brian. While not happy with Anna's WalkingTransplant status, he pretty much lets Sara get her way all the time, resulting in this trope.

* WiseBeyondHerYears: Zig-zagged with Anna Fitzgerald, who constantly alternates between this Trope and acting like a regular thirteen-year-old girl.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* WorkingWithTheEx: Campbell and Julia. [[spoiler: At the end of the book, TheyDo.]]

* IllGirl: Of course, Kate. She eventually becomes a DisabledLoveInterest to Taylor, a boy with cancer she meets at the hospital, [[spoiler: until he dies as a result of recurrence]].

''My Sister's Keeper'' is a 2003 novel by Creator/JodiPicoult. Anna Fitzgerald has gone through countless surgeries, transfusions and shots by the age of thirteen. Is she sick? No. She's doing it for her older sister Kate, who has suffered from severe leukemia since the age of three. Anna was born to be a perfect match for Kate. Kate now needs a kidney and Anna decides she's had enough. So she sues her parents for medical emancipation. This book has a high TearJerker warning, and is the [[http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged/2009/index.cfm 7th most challenged book in schools and libraries for 2009]].

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The book portrays savior siblings as being born specifically to be life long donors to their siblings and with no legal ability to refuse. In reality, the only thing taken from most savior siblings is their umbilical cord, which contain stem cells that can have major rejuvenating properties for the sick siblings. After that, parents cannot force their children donate organs or bone marrow against their will. And even if the child gives their consent, most hospitals won't accept organ donations from anyone under 18. Moreover, considering Kate's state of health, hardly any hospital or transplant board would have forced Anna to donate, because every transplanted organ, unless from a homozygous twin, is eventually rejected: the fact that Anna is a saviour sister only means that her organs will be less likely to be rejected from the start, and if the transplant is successful, they will be rejected after a longer than average period of time, but they will still be rejected sooner or later. So it's quite unrealistic to force a thirteen year old to donate an organ that will have so few chances, especially on the long term, of saving the reciever's life.

* FarmingYourFriend: Played for drama by the book's very premise, in which Anna was born specifically to serve as a constant tissue donor for Kate.

* IllGirl: Of course, Kate. She eventually becomes a DisabledLoveInterest to Taylor, a boy with cancer she meets at the hospital, [[spoiler: until he dies as a result of remission]].

* MixedAncestry: Played straight in the book, as Sarah is black and Brian is white (making all three Fitzgerald children mixed race, though Anna admits she's the only one who really looks it). In the film version, the entire family is depicted as white.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Anna herself.]]

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The book portrays savior siblings as being born specifically to be life long donors to their siblings and with no legal ability to refuse. In reality, the only thing taken from most savior siblings is their umbilical cord, which contain stem cells that can have major rejuvenating properties for the sick siblings. After that, parents cannot force their children donate organs or bone marrow against their will. And even if the child gives their consent, most hospitals won't accept organ donations from anyone under 18. Moreover, considering Kate's health, almost no hospital or transplant commission would have forced Anna to donate. All transplanted organs, apart from those from identical twins, are eventually rejected: the fact that Anna is a savior siblings means only that her organs are less likely to be rejected from the beginning and, if the transplant is succsessful, they are rejected after a longer amount of time. For this to force a thirteen year's old girl to donate a kidney that it's so unlikely to be able to save the reciever's life on the long term is quite illogical.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The book portrays savior siblings as being born specifically to be life long donors to their siblings and have no legal ability to refuse. In reality, the only thing taken from most savior siblings is their umbilical cord, which contain stem cells that can have major rejuvenating properties for the sick siblings. After that, parents cannot force their children donate organs or bone marrow against their will. And even if the child gives their consent, most hospitals won't accept organ donations from anyone under 18.

* ScholarshipStudent: Julia was this at the Wheeler School, where she and Campbell met.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Anna wins the lawsuit. On her way to the hospital to see Kate she is in a car accident that leaves her brain dead. Alexander decides her kidney should be donated to Kate which saves Kate's life. So Sara gets what she wanted - Kate gets to live - but it comes at the cost of her younger daughter's life, and there are no guarantees Kate will stay in remission.]]

** Kate needs more lymphocytes from Anna. The appointment falls during her friend's birthday party and Anna is allowed to stay for half of the party. As Sara is taking Anna to the car, she asks why she had to leave. Sara is so angry because "[her] sister is more important than cake and ice cream", that she tells Anna to stop acting like a five year old. Anna was five at the time.
** The oldest son Jesse is neglected after it is found out he is not a genetic match for Kate. Sara finds it hard to feel sorry when he, a 6 year old, gets his blood tested to see if he is a match for Kate. As a result he becomes a chain smoker and a [[spoiler: PyroManiac.]]
** Another example with Jesse: at one point Sara is too depressed over Kate to take Jesse to shop for new cleats like she'd promised, and tells him they won't be going. Jesse gets upset and points out that she isn't even doing anything, and Sara screams at him until he runs upstairs upset. When Sara later goes up to apologize to him, she discovers that Jesse has ''used a fork to pull out his braces'', and he says to her, "Now you never have to take me anywhere."

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: ''My Sister's Keeper'' was based on a real life story of a family who had a child (unintentionally) that was an exact match for their daughter who had cancer.

* AerithAndBob: Anna is actually short for Andromeda in the book. (Bryan explicitly states it's on her Birth Certificate)

* IllGirl: Kate.

* MiddleChildSyndrome: Inverted; Kate is the middle child of the family, and gets all of the attention because of her cancer.

** The oldest son Jesse is neglected after it is found out he is not a genetic match for Kate. Sara finds it hard to feel sorry when he, a 6 year old, gets his blood tested to see if he is a match for Kate. As a result he becomes a chain smoker and a PyroManiac.

* PyroManiac: Jesse.

* ScholarshipStudent: Julia at the Wheeler School where she and Campbell met.

* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: Campbell's dog, Judge.
* WalkingTransplant: Anna was conceived as an organ donor for her sister Kate.

* HeelFaceTurn: Campbell.

* HighSchoolSweethearts: Campbell and Julia.

* WorkingWithTheEx: Campbell and Julia. [[spoiler: At the end of the book, TheyDo.]]

* TheAlcoholic: [[spoiler: Brian after Anna's death, although he gets better.]]

* DebateAndSwitch: [[spoiler:Due to the ShockingSwerve, the outcome of Anna's lawsuit is meaningless, so no-one finds out what the ramifications of her decision would have actually been.]]
** Even before that, after the lawsuit was decided, when her lawyer asked what she was going to do, her reply was "Ten years from now, I'd like to be Kate's sister", implying she was planning to go through with the donation despite having just fought (and won) a lawsuit over her right to refuse that very procedure.

* DisabledLoveInterest: Kate is this briefly to a boy she met at the hospital, but [[spoiler: he dies shortly after they meet]].

%%* DiabolusExMachina: Ohhhhhhhhh yeah.

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Anna wins legal emancipation so her abusive mother will stop using her as a living organ farm -- then dies in a car crash and her organs are used anyway.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Everything Sara did was for Kate's survival. She emotionally disowned her own children because Anna was only seen as Kate's saviour and Jesse's kidney was incompatible with Kate. Her behaviour can only be understood by a parent.

* BillyNeedsAnOrgan: Kate needing a kidney is what makes Anna decide that she no longer wants to help her medically.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Everything Sara did was for Kate's survival. She emotionally disowned her own children because Anna was only seen as Kate's saviour and Jesse's kidney was incompatible with Kate.