Texas judge allows collection of dead son's sperm

[Tab]

Source: Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas – A judge has granted a mother's request to have someone harvest sperm from her dead son's body, so she can have the option of carrying out his wish to have children.

Nikolas Colton Evans, 21, died Sunday at a Brackenridge hospital after being punched and falling outside an Austin bar March 27.

His mother, Marissa Evans, told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper that he wanted to have three sons someday and had even picked out their names: Hunter, Tod and Van.

"I want him to live on. I want to keep a piece of him," she told the newspaper.

Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ruled Monday in an emergency hearing requested by the mother, because of the urgency of collecting the sperm intact.

Court documents said the sperm had to be collected within 24 hours of Nikolas Evans being removed from life support unless the body was cooled to no more than 39.2 degrees.

Herman ordered the county medical examiner's office to continue storing the body at the proper temperature until the sperm could be collected.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_re_us/dead_son_sperm

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This just seems wrong on so many levels...

[Orrex]

1. Nothing like a post mortem ejaculation to take care of a stiffy

[cali]

2. I have great sympathy for a parent losing a child but

this gives me the creeps. How do we know that the son expressed these wishes to his mother?

[Tab]

3. Are they implying SHE'S going to carry the child?

That's sort of what I read into it. That's bizarre, if not likely illegal.

If not her, then who?

Either way, it's weird.

[cali]

4. yes, that's what they're implying

I'm assuming that she wants an egg donor, fertilization with her son's sperm and then implantation into her uterus. It's not like this hasn't been done before, but as far as I know, the cases where this has been done involve living people- for example a daughter who's infertile and mom carries the daughter and her partner's child.

[davidinalameda]

44. that's just way too freaking creepy for words

Mom has issues

[Orrex]

19. I didn't get that sense

I just figured she'd work with a voluntary surrogate mother. That much of the story, at least, seems fairly mundane to me.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. Or an "involuntary" surrogate mother. A plot to a horror movie perhaps?

[Orrex]

31. It's a cookbook!

A COOKBOOK!!!!!

[Dr. Strange]

37. That's why I don't let those Kanamit bastards around my sperm!

[Q3JR4]

38. And....

Soilent Green is people!

Q3JR4
Like some of you haven't looked at this post and thought about doing the same thing.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

39. LOL. A classic.

[gabby garcia]

45. too freakin funny! nt.

[Gormy Cuss]

29. No, there's no implication of that in the article.

What it says is this:
Evans and her attorneys were trying on Tuesday to find a urologist or other medical professional willing to collect the sperm for a possible surrogate pregnancy in the future.

It's a sad and weird story, but grief can make people think differently. What a sad loss.

[Myrina]

5. Ewwww?

I guess I could see if he was married and his wife wanted to do that, but his mother??

That's just so .. Norman Bates-ish. :scared:

[hlthe2b]

6. Not much of a leap from doing this to cloning the son...

I think this is very wrong as well. Sympathy goes to the mother, of course, but this is not the way to let her heal. I could see doing this if the son had left explicit request in writing in a will, or something of that nature--perhaps if he had a wife who could attest to that being his desire-- but this is opening quite the Pandora's Box.

[Romulox]

7. Disgusting and wrong. His mother no more owns his sperm than I do.

And if his wish to have his sperm harvested from his body for the use of his mother, then surely he'd have put this wish to paper...

[Soylent Brice]

8. i am my own grandpa! c'mon, sing it with me!

[NOW tense]

9. That is all sorts of wrong. n/t

[billybob537]

10. Hunter, Tod and Van

That's just what Texas needs 3 more rednecks fighting outside of bars!!!

[Mari333]

11. This is the deepest most unbelievable grief imaginable

when one is in this state, anything to hold on to your child's body occurs. a lock of hair, anything. eventually, you let go of their body, in time, and embrace them in spirit. but for a long time, you just lay in a fetal position and dont move and wish you could also pass on, and think about passing on to be with them.
some parents just simply let go themselves .
so I sort of understand why she did this, if she heard her son share with her over and over about his wanting to have kids...I cannot fathom why she wants to actually bear the kids, thats too weird, but I am thinking maybe she just wants to have HIM back, and thinks this is one way of doing it
she needs grief therapy asap, and learns to let go of his body's presence as proof of his existence. In time, she will discover he is with her in spirit, and she will learn to accept his body being gone.
right now shes fucked up beyond comprehension, mark my words. she isnt thinking straight. the pain is unbearable and she is looking for any way to relieve it.

[Bunny]

20. Thanks for your perspective, mari.

[Mari333]

23. you are welcome

a lot of people dont get it so I try to help them get it. people wont talk about it, they are scared of the concept. dont understand why, but I guess I was once afraid of it too. it can happen to anyone, people just dont want to believe that.
hugs

[Bunny]

24. I think it's nearly impossible to understand the emotion unless you're

experienced the tragedy yourself. :hug: to you.

[Ilsa]

25. Yes, maybe time will allow her to let go of this. I can understand the

desire for grandkids, too, but I hope she reconsiders how she goes about all of this.

The "My Three Sons" scenario is kind of creepy. What if the son had married a woman who only could have one child for medical reasons (problem after first pregnancy)? Too many "ifs" remaining in the child's future.

So sad. That isn't very far up the road from here. I hope the family finds peace.

[nolabear]

33. Thanks for the compassionate response

I agree, grief isn't logical or "moral" or responsible. For a parent to lose a child is grief unimaginable, and she does need help in dealing with it.

There's a certain amount of sexually fueled revulsion posted here that isn't exactly on target, either. This isn't about sex, it's about the desperate need to keep a dead child alive.

I wish her the best, and grieve her loss.

[Canuckistanian]

12. Macabre

That's the only way to describe this.

[TEmperorHasNoClothes]

13. wrong on so many levels

Children shouldn't be born with jobs and if Marissa Evans uses this sperm to have a child, either with a surrogate or carrying the fetus herself, she's creating a burden for that child. The child will be born as either a) a replacement for the dead father b) to fulfill the dreams of someone who can't raise the child c)with major issues about the circumstances surrounding the impregnation.
Nikolas's "dreams" are immature and he was too young to realize that. How many of us, as children, planned how many kids we wanted to have and gave them names? As mature adults we came to recognize that there is a huge difference between a child's fantasy and the reality of raising children.
Marissa Evans was acting out of grief, not out of the best interest of what the sperm could potentially create.

[Marrah_G]

14. That's fucking creepy

[Smith_3]

15. Seems fine with me. Good that science provides us with such options these days.

Don't really understand the problems people have with this, as long as the mom uses a different egg than her own for fertilization.

[Orrex]

21. Part of the problem, such as it is, is that we have no idea of the son's wishes

Who "owns" his sperm, and on what basis? Though this specific case is unusual, I don't know that it's very different from a surviving parent choosing to donate a deceased child's organs or even his whole body for research or transplant or whatever.

There's an inferred creepiness because a mother is talking frankly about her son's sperm, but that's simply an aesthetic concern, and it's really secondary to the question of whether or not another person can speak on behalf of a dead person's body. Society has answered this question countless times already, and the answer is yes.

[Smith_3]

30. The son is dead. It's not like its gonna hurt him. In return, it will make his mother happy.

I think this should be reason enough to allow the procedure.

[Orrex]

32. That's kind of what I was trying to get at, ultimately

:hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

16. I really feel sad for the mother, but I think this is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I fear that any child born of this sperm will be expected to take the place of the son she lost. That's a terrible burden for a child to carry.

Just because something is scientifically possible, that doesn't mean it should be done.

[hamsterjill]

36. I think that, as well

I think there would be a heavy burden on any offspring born by these means to be "like" their father.

I'm truly sorry that the woman is experiencing the loss of her son. Can't imagine the pain and anguish, but the reality is that the son is gone and can never be replaced. I understand the comments made here that this woman may not be thinking clearly at this time. Who would be thinking clearly???!!!

It would be a far greater memorial to the son IMHO that the mom find three already living, needy boys and assist in their upbringing.

I hope she is able to heal and re-think her decision about this.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. Reminds me of the Terri Schiavo case

[Lucky Luciano]

18. seems ok by me and it is not my problem at all.

:shrug:

[Haole Girl]

22. That is creepy

:scared:

[callous taoboy]

26. A certain Rolling Stones lyric comes to mind.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. I don't see anything wrong with it ..............

If you think this is wrong, what do you think of this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/07/cat-coras-partner-gives-b_n_184297.html

I think a lot of the people here who are creeped out by this situation have (incorrectly) inferred that the mother wants to carry the pregnancies herself. That's nowhere to be found in the article, and I seriously doubt that's her intention.

For all we know, the young man had a serious girlfriend who wants to have his children. That's far more likely than the unwarranted assumption that the mother wants to conceive her own grandchildren.

And I daresay she'd never find a physician who would perform such a procedure.

But, the technology is there, the judge found her request reasonable, so why the negative reaction? Especially on a forum populated by "liberals"?

When you find out that someone you love has suddenly died, you are seized with a desire - perhaps insane, but I think it's simply human - to do anything you can to negate the fact of that death. You think of all the things you never asked him, remember the feel of his skin, the sound of his voice, all the things you are never going to experience again, and you realize that you would gladly die for just one more minute with him.

This mother is, perhaps, carrying out her son's wishes. I have no reason to think she's lying, and it's a jaded, cynical assumption to think she is. In any event, the court has granted her request, so, clearly, the judge and the lawyer serving as the son's guardian found nothing improper about it. The hospital is keeping her son's body in the proper state so that the harvest can take place.

How does this differ from her son's organs being donated to others?

A continuation of life is somehow superior to a new life?

I don't think so.

I hope this works for this poor woman. I hope she has grandchildren, healthy and happy. And I hope she sees her son in each child, knows he is still with her, as she rejoices in his children.

[Cass]

40. Thank you for that rational and compassionate reponse.

My heart goes out to this poor woman. I hope she will find peace one day.

[tammywammy]

41. Good post n/t

[aquart]

48. I actually agree.

[Coventina]

34. I know of some husbands & wives who have pre-arranged this.

In case of accidental death.

I don't think it's such a terrible thing, as long as the resulting children can be provided for adequately.

:shrug:

[ConcernedCanuk]

35. So that means, it's possible that Dim-son could still have offspring

.
.
.

even after he is gone?

scary - and I've wondered about this cloning thing

Hitler died about a year before Junior was born.

Is it possible that . . ?

wow - scary

. . :freak: . .

[readmoreoften]

42. I'm not sure why I'm supposed to be outraged by this.

This is neither "right" or "wrong". Next of kin makes all sort of decisions about bodies after death. It's a tabloid-style presentation of a rather irrelevant and sad situation.

[MilesColtrane]

43. There's too much of a leap from expressing a desire to have children someday...

... to someone using cells from your body to create them after your dead.

He probably meant that he'd like to have children he'd actually meet.

Damn, in addition to a Do Not Resuscitate order will we now have to sign a Do Not Ejaculate order?

I realize that the next of kin has the say in what is done with a person's body in the event that those wishes were not spelled out, but where does that stop?

Can your next of kin demand that you be stuffed and mounted if they assert that you mentioned that to them in passing one day? Can they turn your corpse into an umbrella stand? ...jerky?

[Codeine]

47. Who cares what somebody does with your spunk?

You're dead! It doesn't affect you even slightly. Let the kooky mother have her kooky grief.

[gabby garcia]

46. she would use a surrogate mother for starters.

not her own egg or bear the child herself.
:eyes:
I don't understand why people would freak out about this.
If I died and thought my child would bring love, happiness and comfort to my grieving Mom - I would be happy for her AND the child whom though I would never meet - know and trust my Mom would raise well and love them for themself and not as a replacement of me.

I am not religious - is this some kind of religion based thing that makes y'all so mortified over this?
just curious..