My Sister’s Keeper

Campbell reflects on how his father, the first Campbell Alexander, used to say that “when you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Campbell interprets this as the way that people who have been backed into a corner will do anything to claw their way out, which can either mean getting into a physical fight but can also mean filing a lawsuit. Campbell looks at the Post-its on his desk and sees a note from Kerri telling him that his mother called four times. Campbell throws the note away.

Anna waits patiently for Campbell’s response. Campbell, upon hearing that she wants to sue for bodily autonomy, immediately decides to reject the case. He asks for her name, then calls down the hall for Kerri to bring her the number for Planned Parenthood. Anna, shocked, stands up and protests. Campbell tells her that filing a lawsuit because her parents won’t allow her access to birth control or abortion is overkill and advises her to go to Planned Parenthood again. Anna, enraged, responds that Planned Parenthood can’t help with her situation: Kate is dying, and Sara wants her to donate a kidney to save her.

Kerri arrives with the Planned Parenthood phone number, but Campbell closes the door in her face—a move that, in retrospect, he views as having chosen one path in a forked road. He argues that no one can make Anna donate an organ against her consent, but she responds with a long list of times she donated: first her cord blood as a newborn, then lymphocytes—which took three drawings to get enough—then bone marrow, then granulocytes, then peripheral blood stem cells. Campbell muses that her medical vocabulary could put expert witnesses to shame.

Campbell states that she must have consented to these procedures, but Anna claims that nobody ever asked. When Campbell tells her that they might listen to her if she talks to them, she states that they don’t pay attention to her outside of using her as a donor, and that she wouldn’t be alive if not for Kate’s illness. She tells Campbell that, when she was conceived, her parents deliberately chose the embryo that was a perfect genetic match to Kate. Campbell muses about the hot debate over stem cell research, including issues such as the ethics of “spare-parts babies” and “designer babies.”

He asks Anna what will happen if she doesn’t donate her kidney, to which Anna answers that Kate will die. When Campbell asks her if she’s okay with that and why she’s choosing now of all times to file suit, Anna simply says that “it never stops.” She takes out the $136.87 she’s saved and tells him she’ll figure out a way to pay him more, but she’s shocked when Campbell tells her that he charges $200 per hour. He tells her that he’ll work something out, jokingly telling her that she can polish his doorknobs. From there, he runs through the process of her case: he’ll file a petition, there will be a hearing, and Anna will be appointed a guardian ad litem. He tells her to call if she has any questions, and she, in turn, gives him her number in case he has any questions.

After Anna leaves, Campbell walks out to the reception area, where Kerri tells him that his mother claims his father is shacking up with a teenager and that she is threatening to commit herself. Campbell largely disregards this and turns to Anna’s case, telling Kerri that the office is representing her. Kerri balks at this, asking where Anna will live when her parents find out she’s suing them. Campbell hasn’t really thought about it, but before he can answer, Judge nudges his side. He tells Kerri to give him 15 minutes. When she pushes and tells him Anna can’t take care of herself, he tells her that it’s not his problem and leaves.