The Case of Ms D: A Family's Request for Posthumous Procurement of Ovaries

Abstract

The MedStar Washington Hospital Center clinical ethics team became involved in a case when the family requested the posthumous removal of a patient's ovaries for future reproductive use. This case presents a novel question for clinical ethicists, since the technology for posthumous female reproduction is still in development. In the bioethics literature, the standard position is to refuse to comply with such a request, unless there is explicit consent or evidence of explicit conversations that demonstrate the deceased would have wanted this option pursued. Ms D's case, we suggest, offers an exception to this default position; complying with the family's request could have been ethically permissible in this case, had it been medically feasible.