Judge blocks parents’ bid to use dying son’s sperm to father a child

The parents of a dying man have failed in their court bid to collect and store his sperm to allow his girlfriend to have his child.

The 22-year-old student, who cannot be named, collapsed suddenly while playing sport and was unconscious in intensive care after suffering a stroke when his parents made the application to the Court of Protection.

The man had spoken about wanting children and his girlfriend had “expressed a desire to carry his child”, Mr Justice Poole heard at an urgent out-of-hours hearing on November 3.

But the judge concluded that allowing it would not have been in the man’s best interests.

Details of the case emerged on Thursday when the judge’s written ruling was published. The man at the centre of the case has since died.

Judges in the Court of Protection consider issues relating to people who do not have the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.

Mr Justice Poole, who is based in London and oversees hearings in the Family Division of the High Court, said the man had been a student at a university in the south-west of England and was fit and healthy before his collapse, which he described as “tragic”.

The man’s parents had sought declarations that would allow a doctor to retrieve their son’s sperm and store it lawfully so that it might be “used in the future for the conception and birth of a child or children”.

The man’s father told the judge: “My son had a girlfriend, and he has for many years spoken to me about wanting children of his own.”

“I make it clear to the court that my wife and I would raise the child, but the girlfriend, who is aware of this application, has expressed a desire to carry his child.”

Mr Justice Poole concluded that such declarations would not have been in the man’s best interests.

In his ruling, the judge said: “There is no evidence before the court to persuade me that (he) would have wished for his sperm to be collected and stored in his present circumstances.

“I cannot accept that there should be a default position that sperm should be collected and stored in such circumstances as being generally in a person’s best interests.”

He added: “The process of collecting (his) sperm is physically invasive and there is no evidence that (he) would have consented to it or would have agreed to its purpose.

“I take into account the views of his parents about (his) best interests.

“However, weighing all the relevant matters in the balance, I conclude that it is not in (his) best interests to make the declarations sought.”

Reporting by Press Association