NEWS

Widow wins court case to save dead husband's frozen sperm from being destroyed by fertility clinic

A woman has won a court battle to stop a Canberra fertility clinic destroying her dead husband's frozen sperm.

The man provided two sperm samples to the Canberra Fertility Centre in January 2009, after being diagnosed with cancer of the foot.

The man's doctors had recommended he make a sperm deposit before he underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, as the treatment would likely affect his fertility.
 
After therapy he did recover for a time, but eventually died in April 2012, when he was 26 years old.

But when his wife later asked the clinic about the samples she was told that since the man had died there was a legal obligation to destroy the material.

The court heard the man had believed the samples would automatically go to his wife with the rest of his estate, despite the man not having a will at the time of his death.
 
The court also heard the couple, who had wed a month before the man's death, had discussed the possibility of the sperm being donated to two lesbian friends who were having difficulty finding a suitable sperm donor.

The ACT Supreme Court agreed and ordered the clinic not to destroy the samples as long as the storage fees were paid.