Since DNA has been brought up several times, can anyone answer my question about whose DNA would be in the new sperm after the transplant?
Many consent forms for organ donation give the donor the ability to specify that your donated tissue must be used for life-saving or reconstructive purposes only, distributed only to non-profit organizations, or distributed only in the United States. They also allow an opt-out for research purposes.
Here’s a Straight Dope Staff Report about it:
Spermatogenic cells are derived from primordial germ cells that enter the testicles during the fifth week of pregnancy. This means sperm will always carry genetic information that was implanted during embryonic development, which in turn means that the donor of a transplanted testicle, and not the recipient, would be the genetic father of any child that resulted from its sperm.
The donor’s, no question.
I think that is the real debate here. Would you do it if it produced viable sperm with your DNA. In other words would you want to be a permanent sperm donor.
Damn. Well reasoned and properly expressed points. I’ve been away from the SD for quite a while and I miss this. It’s good to be back. Other places I’ve been haunting haven’t been quite so civilized.
Yeah. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Reddit…
There’s not a lot of time to make decisions between death and donation. And i doubt many people will think super hard about exactly what’s going to happen to whatever they agree to donate.
So I’m in favor of KISS. If there’s a standard form that let’s you donate, but opt out of a, b, and c, sure, add this to that form as item d. Otherwise, I’d just go with all or nothing.
“He’s dead, Jim.”
“Quick, cut off his balls!”
A good friend has gone through this recently. He drank his way into needing a liver transplant. The plan was to use a living donor (his son’s wife) but he had to agree never to drink again. He was vacillating. I told him I didn’t know if I could make such a promise.
Meanwhile, a perfect match came in on a dead person’s liver and they rushed him to surgery.
He never agreed to not drink again. He is currently recuperating, so I guess we’ll see.
The whole point of organ donation is to help other people live longer, more fulfilling lives. If nobody’s using my DNA to make babies, then they’re welcome to do whatever they want with my hardware after I don’t need it anymore, regardless of whether they’re cis/trans/gay/straight. If they want to make babies, they don’t need my sperm, as there’s nothing special about it - they can easily go to a sperm bank instead.
For the people who’ve said they don’t care if their DNA is used postmortem to make babies: have you considered becoming a sperm donor? You could make a lot of infertile couples very happy even before you die, and earn some beer money along the way.
I mean, it’s right in the name. Organ donor…
Phrasing!
Thanks for the cite. Sounds like the legal details would have to be absolutely locked down before the transplant. In any event, the case law on this will be interesting and I’d imagine that federal legislation might be necessary.
Worrying about possible claims against my estate is entirely different from dictating what a recipient can or can’t do with the parts. Whether to have children is the recipient’s decision. I can’t imagine any reasoned or emotional excuse I could have that would override that.
Well, wouldn’t it be a big success if the transplant got hard again?
slightly off topic but I think it relates to answering.
Is there any legal ramification to the transplantee fathering a child this way? Could the child now go after the estate of the deceased/donor since that person was their biological father? I’d assume they couldn’t if fathered thru a sperm bank but this is a different scenario.
ICIJ did an exposé a few years ago. Stuff like collagen for puffy lips can come from dead people.
Here’s an AbbVie product called AlloDerm, sold commercially, made from donor tissue. They use it for post-cancer breast reconstruction, but also to make people’s lips puffy, etc. It’s right there in the fine print.
ALLODERM SELECT™ Regenerative Tissue Matrix (“ALLODERM SELECT™ RTM”) and ALLODERM SELECT RESTORE™ Regenerative Tissue Matrix (“ALLODERM SELECT RESTORE™ RTM”) are donated allograft human dermis, processed to remove cells while preserving biologic components and structure of the dermal matrix.
If you should want this used to make your lips puffy, here is a cosmetic surgery clinic website that advertises it for that express purpose.
~Max
Oh, and phalloplasty (includes penis reconstruction, but also penis enlargement). That is already a thing they use donor tissue for today.
Cite,
~Max
This may be the single greatest thing you’ve ever written on this board.
Thank you, but everything I write is gold. I am a gift.
I mean, his name is literally SenorBeef. What did you expect?
We do know the answer to that. Germ cells reside in sweet bachelor pads in Testicle Land. Actually, science people call them tubules, but they’re really bachelor pads.
The OP as stated dictates my junk shoots blanks, so it’s all aesthetic anyways. I wouldn’t care what the new owner does with the stuff, or to/with whom cuz the unharvested bits of me are Capsula Mundi. But honestly, the joke’s on the recipient because my best business parts are elsewhere.