Parents allowed to retrieve dead son’s semen from hospital

The sperm has been preserved at the Centre for Infertility Management and Assisted Reproduction hospital at Cheranalloor,near here.

In a ruling yesterday,judge of the permanent Lok Adalat here,D Pappachan,allowed the couple to collect the semen but on certain conditions.

They have been asked to jointly sign and issue a receipt to the hospital stating that they had received the semen. The hospital would not be responsible or liable for any complication–medically or legally arising out of the use of the sample,the adalat held,the couple’s counsel Aniyan P Vakkom said.

Rateesh,who was studying for Sound engineering in an institute at Chennai,was diagnosed with tumour in his left testicle last year and was admitted to the Amrita hospital and his sperm preserved on medical advice. Rateesh died on January 5 this year of pneumonia.

Though the couple were advised adoption,they were not keen,their counsel said. Having a child using their son’s sperm was the only option agreeable to them,Aniyan said.

When the hospital rejected their plea to handover the preserved semen,the parents had no other option but to approach the Lok Adalat for faster disposal of their appeal.