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Human Reproduction, Vol. 15, No. 4, 739-745, April 2000
© 2000 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

Ethics of postmortem sperm retrieval

Ethics of sperm retrieval after death or persistent vegetative state

Carson Strong1,4, Jeffrey R. Gingrich2 and William H. Kutteh3

1 Department of Human Values and Ethics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee-Memphis, 2 Department of Urology, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee-Memphis, and 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee-Memphis, Memphis TN 38163 USA


   Introduction
 
Postmortem sperm retrieval was first reported in 1980 by Rothman, in a case involving a 30-year old man who became brain dead following a motor vehicle accident and whose family requested sperm preservation (Rothman, 1980Go). Ohl et al. reported family requests for sperm retrieval in one case involving a patient in the persistent vegetative state (PVS), one case in which the patient was `in an extended coma with a poor prognosis for recovery,' and four cases involving brain dead patients (Ohl et al., 1996Go). Several other case reports involving postmortem sperm retrieval have been published (Nolan et al., 1990Go; Pozda, 1996Go; Townsend et al., 1996Go; Iserson, 1998Go). Various methods for retrieving spermatozoa have been described, including surgical excision of the epididymis (Rothman, 1980Go), irrigation or aspiration of the vas deferens (Kerr et al., 1997Go), and rectal probe . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Ethical considerations in posthumous reproduction
 
Variety of scenarios
Significance to individuals of posthumous reproduction
Interests of the child

   Consent: explicit or inferred
 

   Inferring the wishes of the patient
 

   Must physicians carry out such requests?
 

   Terms of the sperm storage and insemination agreement
 

   Persistent vegetative state versus death
 

   Conclusions
 

   Notes
 

   References
 

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