Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (8)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pennings, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pennings, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Human Reproduction, Vol. 15, No. 5, 979-986, May 2000
© 2000 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

What are the ownership rights for gametes and embryos?

Advance directives and the disposition of cryopreserved gametes and embryos

Guido Pennings

1 Department of Philosophy, Pleinlaan 2, Lok. 5C442, Free University Brussels, 1050 Brussels, Belgium


   Introduction
 
IVF has become a routine procedure for the treatment of infertility. One of the by-products of the typical IVF treatment is the creation of supernumerary embryos. More embryos are brought into existence than can be safely replaced in the first cycle. The remaining embryos are frozen to be used later if the first trial proves unsuccessful or when the couple wants another child. However, not all embryos are replaced and not all parents indicate what should be done with them. The accumulation of frozen embryos has resulted in impressive numbers of embryos stocked in the freezers of the large fertility clinics. The exponential growth of their number urges on the ethical reflection on the fate of these embryos.

Two questions are generally raised in this context: (i) who should decide and (ii) what should be done. Although the disposition of the embryos has received much more attention in the literature . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Informed consent and advance directives
 

   Restrictions imposed by the social and moral order
 

   A conditional directive
 

   Informed consent at the end of the storage period
 
Unnecessary pressure
Autonomy and the validity of the advance directive
The patient as an imperfect decision-maker

   Shared responsibility of the couple and the fertility centre
 

   Divorce and the right to change one's mind
 

   Conclusions
 

   Notes
 

   References
 

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
C.R. Newton, J. Fisher, V. Feyles, F. Tekpetey, L. Hughes, and D. Isacsson
Changes in patient preferences in the disposal of cryopreserved embryos
Hum. Reprod., December 1, 2007; 22(12): 3124 - 3128.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
S. de Lacey and R.J. Norman
What should we do with donated embryos that may be genetically affected?
Hum. Reprod., May 1, 2004; 19(5): 1065 - 1068.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
G. Pennings and A. Van Steirteghem
The subsidiarity principle in the context of embryonic stem cell research
Hum. Reprod., May 1, 2004; 19(5): 1060 - 1064.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]