# A really grotesque question about AI **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646 "2005-08-25T23:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/1 "2005-08-25T23:13:47Z")
That’s artificial insemination, not artificial intelligence. Say an otherwise healthy woman of child-bearing years lapses into a coma. Could her legal guardian legally authorize the medical procedure of artificial insemination? Yes, this was inspired by an episode of _Law & Order_ that was on today, but in the ep the parents of the comatose woman paid a man to have sex with the daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/2 "2005-08-26T04:46:38Z")
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I’m glad I missed that episode. EW! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/3 "2005-08-26T04:56:37Z")
That would be rape (nonconsensual sexual penetration), unless she clearly authorized her legal guardian to do that before lapsing into the coma, or had talked at length to friends and family about her desire to have kids someday blah blah blah. Somebody would sue to prevent it, and I can’t imagine a judge who would then let it go forward. Pretty gross hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/4 "2005-08-26T05:23:25Z")
> [@Wonko The Sane](#): > > I don’t know the answer to your question, but I’m glad I missed that episode. > > EW! :eek: 😃 Well it’s not like they showed it or anything! Anyway, I don’t know but I don’t see how. I don’t think it would constitute rape (can you really define artificial insemination as sexual penatration? Yes, it has the same outcome as sex might, but it’s no more sexual than a pap smear) but it would be a bad medical descision. I can’t see a doctor agreeing to it, or a court forcing him to. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/5 "2005-08-26T11:32:42Z")
Yeah, I’m not talking about the ethics of such a thing (ethically it’s pretty abhorrent), just the legality. More generally, I guess it’s a question about the power of a legal guardian to make medical decisions for an incompetent person regardless of what the incompetent person might want, but the L&O ep sort of inspired an extreme question. Would it be rape though? It’s been a while since I read through Wisconsin’s criminal statutes but I seem to remamber the phrase “sexual gratification” in the sexual assault laws. If the AI wasn’t done for sexual gratification, and if the woman’s legal guardian consented to it, would it be rape? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/6 "2005-08-26T11:41:21Z")
Why would it be a medical decision? Surely no medical professional would sanction an such a procedure, as it would have no palliative or curative effect. This woman would be in a hospital, right? Doctors are pretty picky about what you stick in their patients. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/7 "2005-08-26T11:58:40Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Why would it be a medical decision? Surely no medical professional would sanction an such a procedure, as it would have no palliative or curative effect. This woman would be in a hospital, right? Doctors are pretty picky about what you stick in their patients. What about this, hypothetically… … a woman is in a coma from a genetic disease. The only thing that can cure her is a transplant of healthy cells from a relative. Her parents are dead, and she has no siblings, so there is no living genetic match. Having a baby would provide the right genetic material to save her life but she can’t consent as she’s in a coma. Would the artifical insemination of a “miracle embryo” be morally acceptable in that case? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/8 "2005-08-26T14:13:25Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > the parents of the comatose woman paid a man to have sex with the daughter. What’s the going rate for that sorta thing nowadays? 😉 Seriously, did the show divulge what the man was paid? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/9 "2005-08-26T15:41:12Z")
I don’t know about the legality, but I imagine that any health care professional would have their license revoked for unethical behavior if they performed the artificial insemination. Health care workers have to follow a code of ethics, this would clearly violate that code. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/10 "2005-08-26T16:05:41Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > What’s the going rate for that sorta thing nowadays? 😉 Seriously, did the show divulge what the man was paid? I don’t recall the exact amount of the two payments he received from the coma patient’s mother (the father was uninvolved) but it wasn’t a fortune - likely less than $10,000 total. The episode is “Grief”, from the eighth season and is loosely summarized [here.](http://ledger.thousandrobots.com/archives/001159.php) The coma patient was only introduced after red herrings about an assault on a man in Central Park and an alleged rape of a mentally ill woman. The fictional lawyers also had trouble sorting out the issues. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/11 "2005-08-26T16:47:10Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > likely less than $10,000 total. Hmmm. Was this for a single act of copulation, or was it repeated until conception occured? I would think that there would be irregularities with ovulation in a comatose patient. Heck, extremes in diet can alter ovulation. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/12 "2005-08-26T16:55:40Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Seriously, did the show divulge what the man was paid? IIRC $3,000 to start trying and another $2,000 upon impregnation. He bought a motorcycle with he first money and a big screen TV with the second. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-really-grotesque-question-about-ai/318646/13 "2005-08-26T18:17:11Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > IIRC $3,000 to start trying and another $2,000 upon impregnation. He bought a motorcycle with he first money and a big screen TV with the second. I’ve got no idea why but, this sent me into fit of giggles. 😃