A rare legal battle for life after death

KOCHI: In a rare legal battle, a couple are fighting for their deceased son’s semen, preserved in a hospital. It could be the first time ever a couple are fighting for their son’s semen for a surrogate child. It was about a year back that Ratheesh, 28, of Ernakulam died of pneumonia. The death of their only son has literally shattered Ravikumar and Karthyani, who are in their late 50s. An year after his death, the two hope to get a child through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) by using the sperm preserved in a private hospital in Kochi.While Ratheesh was undergoing treatment, the doctor  advised taking the samples of  his semen and preserving it for medical diagnosis and checking count. Based on that, he with the permission from his parents, gave the samples to the private hospital on August 19, 2010.  On January 5, 2011, Ratheesh died.  Feeling lonely after their son’s death,  Ravikumar and Karthyani decided to go for a surrogate child.  But the hospital authorities are refusing to give back the preserved semen.‘’The hospital  has refused to give the preserved semen saying that our son is not alive,” said Ravikumar, a fabricator by profession and Karthyani, a sweeper at a government hospital.They have sent a legal notice to the hospital.  “Even after sending the notice, the authorites are not ready. That prompted us to approach the permanent Lok Adalat,’’ they said.“He was the only heir to us. After his death, we felt lonely, insecure and suffered mental agony. At this age, we can’t have another child. On advice from medical experts, we decided to go for a surrogate child.“We would like to have a child of our son through a donor,’’ they said and added that they have already found a donor who is willing to bear the child.It’s one of the rarest incidents where parents are fighting for their son’s semen, said experts. “Definitely this is the first incident, may be in  medical history. The quality would not be affected even though the semen was taken one year back. But the rate of success is minimal according to medical theory,” Gynecologist Dr B Madhu said.