Case Study
Harvesting Dead Girl's Eggs Raises Ethical Issues

After a 17 year old Israeli girl passed away August 3rd, 2011 10 days after being in a horrible car accident, an Israeli court has granted her parents permission to freeze her eggs. Her parents’ initial request was for the eggs to be fertilized with sperm that was donated, but judges declined the suggestion until the family could prove that Chen had wanted to have children. Although the family could prove that the girl did indeed want children, the ethical question was whether or not said girl wanted her children to come to earth after her death. Rosamond Rhodes, director of bioethics education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York made a point that although the girl did want children, it was never specified if she wanted her children raised by someone else- most people don’t like the idea of that. Along with that question, a few more arise. Consider you were the child. A few of your questions would be, “Who is my mother?” “How I was I conceived after she died.” “Why was I conceived after her death?” Laurie Zoloth commented “"The fact that sperm has been used this way, for the same tragic reasons, is not an ethical justification.” (Conley, 2011) HIPPA could be considered violated when doctors try to add sperm to the eggs, considering the women that the eggs belong to has passed away and doctors do not have written nor verbal consent to use them. The families values seem to differ from most in the world. One American scientist said “It strikes me as unlikely a minor child would have had the capacity and maturity to meaningfully assert an interest in motherhood, let alone motherhood after her death".(Conley, 2011) If I were on the ethics committee I would definitely say no to this situation. If this 17 year old girl had a living will that mentioned such thing to happen, I would absolutely go ahead and grant her wishes, however there was no will nor a power of attorney therefore my decision would be to leave the eggs in the girl. My choice came about by empathy, putting myself in her child’s shoes. Growing up I would have so many questions as to “Why?” “How?” “Who decided this?”. Judith F. Daar, suggests that “Families must try to set aside their understandable desire to keep a part of their child and focus on what their child would have actually wanted.”, (Conley, 2011)And I couldn’t agree more! How is it known, considering the circumstances, that their daughter would still want a child? I think as a utilitarian. I can’t make a decision without figuring out the consequences first. If the consequences are too risky, I can’t go forward with my initial thoughts. This is one of those situations where I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about how much hurt this child would go through wondering why they were brought to earth without their mommy. To me, that’s consequence enough. A child in pain that didn’t have to be! Granted, a grandma or family member could take great care of this child, but it will never be their mother. Some people may see this idea in a different way. Is it as a way to have the girls’ name living? Is it for the girls’ mother to fill the void of her young daughter? “Dr. Michael A. Grodin said he had no ethical objection to the idea of performing the same procedure in women” (Conley, 2011) but he did mention that preforming this would have significant psychosocial issues. The family did end up receiving the eggs, however there was quite a bit of fuss with American scientists. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the department of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that “laws need to be put in place that require spouses and other family members to wait a certain amount of time before using the harvested sperm or egg.” (Conley, 2011)

Conley, M. (2011, AUGUST 11). Harvesting dead girl's eggs raises ethical issues. Retrieved from http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Ethics/28009