Parents Fight To Use Dead Son?s Sperm To Create Posthumous Grandchild

[BanthaFodder]

not gonna say they can or can't do it... just sayin... that's creepy... like, Gary Busey dressed as a clown in a dark room filled with Victorian dolls and the sound of kids singing "ring around the rosie" slowly-creepy...
so yeah, pretty damn creepy...

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

This definitely how the Zombie Invasion starts.

Seriously, if the soul exists, and if there's a way to make someone born without a soul...That's probably it.

MOTHER. FUCKING. ZOMBIE.

 

[Catalyst6]

Who is going to raise the child, and, when he's older, he's gonna find out about this. I mean, its online. He'll probably be covered in the news. It isn't like they'll be able to hide the fact that he was conceived after his[her] father's death.

Think of how he would feel knowing that.

While it might be a little off-putting (okay, a LOT creepy), it probably wouldn't be all that different than just being adopted. The "grandparents" will be the de facto parents in that case, and I doubt that the kid will see them as anything other than his/her *direct* family. To put more clearly, I doubt that s/he will take her "father" into account much.

 

[Gxas]

Who is going to raise the child, and, when he's older, he's gonna find out about this. I mean, its online. He'll probably be covered in the news. It isn't like they'll be able to hide the fact that he was conceived after his[her] father's death.

Think of how he would feel knowing that.

While it might be a little off-putting (okay, a LOT creepy), it probably wouldn't be all that different than just being adopted. The "grandparents" will be the de facto parents in that case, and I doubt that the kid will see them as anything other than his/her *direct* family. To put more clearly, I doubt that s/he will take her "father" into account much.

Its the news part that would make it different. Adopted children don't have the media telling them that they're not being raised by their biological parents every day.

 

[Tarlane]

I saw people mentioning that it was a consent issue, but I thought I would point out that he would have already given that consent. Presumably he would have talked to his parents about what he wished to do, but the legal consent would have already had to be given. When you donate sperm to be frozen one of the things you have to fill out is a form saying who has legal control over that should something happen to you.

Now, morally there could be a conflict if he didn't want this. Its the same sort of question that would come up if you had a living will saying to pull the plug, but the person you assigned to be able to make that choice decided they couldn't tell the doctor to do it. Legally they are the one who makes the decision at that point in time, but they should follow his requests. Hopefully they talked about it while he was still alive.

(Yes, I speak of this with some knowledge. I had to go through chemotherapy and before they start they strongly suggest you go to a cryobank in case the chemicals cause any fertility issues. I had to pick someone to be legally able to decide what happens should I ever have become incapacitated.)

 

[thethingthatlurks]

The question here isn't whether or not somebody's sperm should be used to create a child without their knowledge, it's whether parents have the final say on the reproductive choices of their children. No, just no! They have no right to do this. If he didn't leave a will explicitly asking for this, drop it!

I also find their treatment of the whole situation appalling. They are clearly looking for a grandchild to replace their son, which is bargaining at its finest. Even if they were to get that, I can guarantee you that said child will be emotionally scarred from the time they get him home. He WILL have a shitty life. Bonus points for a boy getting the same name as his "dad."

This just reminds me to write an addendum to my living will, after the kill life support after three days of being comatose bit: "Fuck you mom, I never wanted any children. I've got a (presumably) living brother, go bother him about wanting grandkids. Stay the fuck away from my junk!" And I wish there were a less creepy way of writing that...

 

[RuralGamer]

No, their son may have given consent for his organs to be donated after death, but he sure didn't give consent for his grandparents to make him a son. Besides, I'm not an expert on Jewish (assuming they are not a minority) customs, but wouldn't that be wrong for the grandparents to create a grandson purely for heritage sakes; wouldn't the mother have to raise him anyway?Anyway, I'd suspect that that child would be severely screwed up when he found out he was created purely for his grandparents' sakes.

 

[Android2137]

Um... Well yes, it is creepy, but... The guy is dead. He's kinda incapable of caring. As long as the lady they find to have the baby is perfectly willing to do so and custody of said child is agreed upon beforehand with appropriate lawyers for both parties, then... um... why not?

(If their son wasn't dead, but still in a coma, I would feel differently.)

 

[Belated]

Well, if it's his sperm, it should be his decision whether or not he wants his parents to be able to use it. If he didn't explicitly say they could before he died, then they shouldn't be able to.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

It's a little creepy, but I guess technically, it's no different than using a person's organs after they die.

 

[Eroen]

I don't follow how losing a child would make you a better judge of whether this would be all right or not. I'd say it would disqualify you from judging in the matter, I believe this is also the stance taken by my local legal system in the case of judges.

Also, Amondren, I couldn't find anything about the sperm being extracted by a doctor. I believe the procedure for extracting sperm from a living body (he was only brain dead) is quite straightforward, at least if most of the (autonomous) nervous system and glands are accounted for.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Maybe it's not that they're trying to replace him but rather, they are trying to create a legacy. Their son was the end of the line, basically. Why wouldn't they want their family to go on for a few more generations?

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Considering all the advances that have been made in genetics and artificial insemination, it's not really that strange a request. It was a question bound to come up eventually. I think they should be able to go ahead and do it.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I...it's unorthodox and slightly creepy, but sure, find a willing woman and why not?

 

[Zing]

Well that's just creepy.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Um... creepy? And even if they can do it, this won't bring their son back...

 

[xdom125x]

It is pretty creepy. Their comparison to organ donation is kind of weird because organs are usually donated anonymously and they are necessary for the recipient to live. Also, if it is sperm donation than they technically let the bloodline live on, get a grandchild but never see it (I am assuming it resembles the U.S. sperm donation system. If it is a donation, they have no rights pertaining to it) . If they find a surrogate to carry their grandchild, than fine but it is still creepy as hell for parents to decide what happens with their adult offsprings body after death especially to have their dead offspring reproduce.

 

[JoJo]

While this is more than a little odd, I can kind of understand why they'd want to this, otherwise they would spend the rest of their life without any sort of family... as long as they take good care of the child I have no problem with their decision.

 

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

I don't think that's right, mostly because of the consent issue. But when you think about it, they already have the sperm, so what's wrong with them getting a kid? If they raise it themselves, what's the issue?

Wow. This is sticky.

 

[GaryH]

I see no problem with this whatsoever.

Why not? Why is perfectly acceptable for them to make such claims? I'm not judging, I'm just trying to understand the reasoning behind it.

I tend to look at things from a logical standpoint as much as possible and the way I see this is fairly simple:

Assuming that they cannot have more children, their son was the last of their influence in the human gene pool.

The need to pass on our genes is hardwired into us as animals and drives us to procreate. Most people want to know that a part of them will continue on after their death so I can entirely understand their desire to do this.

There is no reason -not- to do this, apart from some nonsense about it being somehow inherently "wrong" (as pointed out before, it's no more wrong than using donated sperm to conceive a child).

Provided that they can find a woman willing to do this then there is no reason for anyone to have any problem with it at all. It has no impact on anyones life save for those involved and if that's what they want to do then that's what should happen. It's none of our business.

At the risk of being incredibly controversial: The debate about whether it's what he would have wanted is pointless. A deceased person cannot have an opinion or be affected emotionally by the use of his sperm. It's creating life from death, where is the negative here?

Thanks for calling me out, btw. I'm glad to have been forced into elaborating!