Seamus Burns discusses the grey areas of law and ethics surrounding donor consent
Tragically, in June 2007 H, (who was married to L and had a 10-month old daughter), died unexpectedly in hospital after an appendectomy. The couple had not had any discussions as to what should happen if H (aged only 31) died in hospital. H’s death came as a hammer-blow to L, and as Mr Justice Charles in L v The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority [2008] EWHC 2149 (Fam) said “…the steps that she took in its immediate aftermath were motivated by the wishes of herself and her husband to have another child, her wish to have another child who by blood would be a full sibling to her existing child and time to think about whether she should pursue that course”. Clearly L had to act immediately and decisively to retrieve and preserve H’s sperm. Thus, she made an out of hours application to Mrs Justice Macur, for declaratory relief on 26/6/2007.
The hospital, but not the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
