Dead Trans Girl's Sperm Will Be Stored

Trixie, the child was one of 7 siblings, a few of whom are girls, so I hope they wouldn't feel pressured by their grief into being a surrogate.

I always assumed some sort of notice of intent is made by the donor and stored along with the sperm.

Even if given permission to go ahead I think they'd have a very hard time finding a surrogate who would agree to this!

However, if I was the mother of a child who died suddenly and in circumstances that are apparently still not understood, I would hope that my main priority would be finding out why the child died and if the experimental drugs given to the child were a factor.
This reflects my thoughts on the situation Heath - I am so sorry for the parents and maybe they are focussing in this issue as a means of processing the grief but I would also be pushing to get the cause of death established because if there was any chance that the hormone treatment had anything to do with it I’d want urgent action to help prevent that happening to anyone else.

I feel desperately sorry for anyone who loses a child - I cannot begin to imagine the devastation - but this is not the way to keep that child's memory alive.

It's an absolutely horrible situation where there are no winners.

I feel for them. I really do. It has happened to a couple of the parents of the children that my children grew up with.

I'm uncomfortable with what the process must have been to obtain the sperm from a child.

Is it similar to what it would be for an adult? (Send them into a cubicle with a cup and some well thumbed porn magazines).

“It’s very sad but the future child would just be used as a sticking plaster for the grieving grandmother.”

Oh, definitely.

It’s very sad but the future child would just be used as a sticking plaster for the grieving grandmother.

How unbelievably sad. Reminds me a bit of that case with the pregnant Irish lady who was effectively kept alive for months to have her baby, even though she was brain-dead.

I think if we forget the trans angle for a moment, this is a mother asking that sperm from her dead 14-year old son be used to father a child. I don't think this is a good idea for all the obvious reasons.

I suspect this is less to do with the mother wanting a grandchild from her deceased child's sperm and more to do with an attempt to recreate her child (you could use the word clone).

Her pain must be unimaginable, but this is incredibly misguided.

I feel hugely sorry for the mother and all six siblings of this poor teenager who was horribly let down if they were told by trusted adults that they could become a mum.

However, if I was the mother of a child who died suddenly and in circumstances that are apparently still not understood, I would hope that my main priority would be finding out why the child died and if the experimental drugs given to the child were a factor.

This reminds me of the poor parents of Jayden Lowe who paid the Webberleys for drugs for their child. It wasn't until after the inquest that they realised that the hormone treatments were experimental and came with a huge array of known and potentially fatal side effects.

Our society is failing children and their parents.

That poor child, dying so young. I feel for their parents, it must be a terrible blow.

Grief can make people do irrational things, but this would be so wrong if it happened. I'd have said the same if the child was born female and had frozen eggs.

I hope the family finds peace and healing in a more healthy way.

The trans thing is a red herring here, it really doesnt matter materially, what matters is should a parent use the eggs or sperm of their dead child to bring another child into the world if that was the express of their child?

Personally I think not and I do think this is a way of the mother chanelling her grief but Ive not had a child die sooooo. I certainly wouldnt want to be the judge!

No grandparents have ‘the right’ to a child. Consider the potential child. Who is this really for?

Using a surrogacy arrangement to create a baby with no parents in his or her life would plainly be wrong on multiple levels and I'd hope a court would see that immediately.

It must be very painful for the parents of the child who died to think of the sperm sample being destroyed. Perhaps they might decide to do something different with it, like donate it to a single woman or a lesbian couple in the basis they would play a role as grandparents.

Sorry, I meant to add that while I feel nothing but sympathy for the individual parents who are coping with the death of their child, my greater concern is the legal precedent that might be set.

So what about all the children and young adults who have had sperm/eggs frozen before cancer treatment? If they, sadly, die, do their parents have a right to make their own grandchildren?

After all, it could be argued that by having their gametes frozen they are expressing a wish to be parents at some stage.

Sorry, I did use paragraphs. I have no clue where they have gone!

This is madness. It shouldn't be given time or consideration.

Walk into any family court and you'll be told that the welfare of the child is paramount. Where are the best interests of the child which currently doesn't and need not exist being served by creating a 'designer baby' so that the grandparent/s can attempt to uphold the whims of a young teenager? Or maybe even to attempt to replace their deceased child?

If this goes ahead can you imagine the precedent it will set? Would it be acceptable for a court to allow this if a deceased donor had lost their life to a genetically related condition?

There are considerably more questions than answers and the cause appears to be the dredging up of the wants and whims of a 14 year old kid, now forever set in stone from the parent's pov because that kid never made it to adulthood. It's desperately sad for the kid's family but no way should their grief be the driver in a quest to re-create what they've lost or fulfill the wishes of an already confused youngster, made at an age where so many grow up to completely change their minds about their plans for the future.

I couldn't ever imagine what it would be like to lose a child wether that child be under 18 or someone's adult child but as their parent they do not have the right to their passed away child's genetic material to produce a grandchild for themselves.It's very selfish and has horrendous moral implications;imagine the psychological and emotional affect on the child produced that way.

I'm not sure, in the cold light of day, the parents will not go through with this, but it is their choice, even if the judgement goes against them. This is very soon after a death of a 14 year old. They will be grief stricken.

They have only asked for time to decide what to do. The NHS have agreed to give them that time until 30 November.

I would not offer an opinion, I have not had a child die

This is so wrong! Even a married couple in the middle of ivf wouldn't necessarily be able to proceed with frozen so erm if the husband died.

A child with no partner has absolutely no grounds to claim the right to procreate after death with a surrogate.