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COPYRIGHT 2003 International Medical News Group
[YES] Requests for postmortem sperm retrieval are becoming more common, and often they are quite compelling. The typical request comes from the wife of a recently deceased man who, before her husband's death, would have welcomed pregnancy.
Performing this procedure is very gratifying because as a physician, you have a natural instinct to help people. You can give the wife something to look forward to, at a time when she may have lost hope.
But an incredible number of considerations must be taken into account before a sperm retrieval procedure is performed. As soon as we had our first request at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, we began putting together a set of guidelines, with input from legal experts, psychologists, institutional representatives, medical ethicists, and medical experts.
In our experience, relying on these criteria will lead you to turn down most requests. (The guidelines are available at www.cornellurology.com/uro/cornell/ guidelines.shtml.)...
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