If your wife was in a PVS could you legally have sex with her?

Factual Questions
1

On one hand she is your wife however on the other she lacks ability to give consent. Would consent be presumed, and might this not vary on a state by state basis? I know that older adults in LTC facilities sometimes engage in sexual relations however I think it is a problem when one of the parties suffers from dementia. However, these situations usually involve parties who are not married.

If consent is not presumed could your wife leave a Living Will which authorized sexual relations in the event she ended up in a PVS or coma? Could a man in such a state maintain an erection so that his wife could have a similiar deal?

2

I’m guessing you can’t, because she cannot consent. Marriage does not imply infinite consent- you can still rape your wife.

3

I’d be mildly surprised that anyone would want to.

4

I though the depends on the laws of state.

5

Admittedly, from a sexual gratification standpoint, it is a bit distasteful. But I could see a couple mutually deciding this was a good idea if they really wanted kids, even under these circumstances. (I wouldn’t personally, but I could see some people would)

6

Never underestimate grief. The able bodied spouse may be left longing for intimacy and closeness that certainly can no longer be acheived through conversation.

It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that some spouses, in their grief, may want this.

7

I seem to recall that there has been at least one case where the husband was in a coma, and the wife wanted to conceive a child (the couple was hitherto childless), and so undertook to do so.

Does the motivation make any difference?

8

I’d think a motivation of wanting to conceive a child with a partner not knowing about it is pretty distasteful.

(Ah, jsut remembered, wasn’t this in a novel by (ythinks hard for the name) - oh, the novel was titled “GARP”, that much I do recall.

9

I don’t know 100% what you mean by a “PVS” but by the responses I am assuming that this is some form of incapacitation caused through no action of the husband. That being the case, in most states sex with your wife in that state is likely not rape (due to implied consent laws) - IANAL, so take this as you will. For example, see the WV Statute: http://www.fris.org/Pages/WVLaw.html

Relevant Section:
61-8b-5. Sexual Assault of a Spouse
(a) For the purpose of this subsection:

“Sexual intercourse” means any act between persons married to each other involving penetration, however slight, of the female sex organ by the male sex organ or involving contact between the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of his or her spouse.

“Sexual intrusion” means any act between persons married to each other involving penetration, however slight, of the female sex organ or of the anus of either person by an object for the purpose of degrading or humiliating the person so penetrated or for gratifying the sexual desire of either party.

(b) A person is guilty of sexual assault of a spouse when such person engages in sexual penetration or sexual intrusion with his or her spouse without the consent of the spouse; and
(i) The lack of consent results from forcible compulsion; or

(ii) Such person inflicts serious bodily injury upon anyone; or

(iii) Such person employs a deadly weapon in the commission of the offense.

© Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than 2 nor more than 10 years, or fined not more than $5,000.00 and confined in the penitentiary not less than 2 nor more than 10 years.

So you don’t just need lack of consent, you have to have lack of consent from forciple compulsion for it to be rape:

“Forcible compulsion” means:
(a) Physical force that overcomes such earnest resistance as might reasonably be expected, under the circumstances; or
(b) Threat or intimidation, expressed or implied, placing a person in fear of immediate death or bodily injury to himself or another person or in fear that he or another person will be kidnapped; or
© Fear by a child under sixteen years of age caused by intimidation, expressed or implied, by another person four years older than the victim.
For the purpose of this definition “resistance” includes physical resistance or any clear communication of the victim’s lack of consent.

So it looks like you would be in the clear, in WV as long as you didn’t have to assualt anyone to get to your wife, and you didn’t have anything to do with incapacitating her…

10

PVS = Permanent Vegatative State, I believe.

11

You’re thinking of ‘The World According to Garp’ by John Irving, where at the start a nurse gets pregnant by a comatose fighter pilot who suffers from a permanent hard-on, or something along those lines…

12

You’re thinking of ‘The World According to Garp’ by John Irving, where at the start a nurse gets pregnant by a comatose fighter pilot who suffers from a permanent hard-on, or something along those lines…

13

I’ve decided that if one can imagine it, then there’s someone who has done, is doing it or is likely to do it in the near future.

Don’t underestimate the diversity of human perversity.

14

Since mine will not be seeing this post, what if your spouse is in the VS only WHILE having sex?:smiley:

15

No one addressed the issue of a situation where the person leaves a “Living Will” ahead of time that gives consent for sexual relations with their partner in the event they are in a coma or PVS. If I can have a Living Will to be withdrawn from life support, have or not have a feeding tube, and other such vital issues I should be able to state that I can have sex with my SO.

16

If it was covered by a living will, I don’t think I’d see a problem, but it was just that the notion of setting out to conceive a child without the partner’s knowing, or comprehension of it, seem all wrong.

Thanks for the John Irving thing, people - I was too distracted to Google at the time, but yes, I think there was a permanent erection involved and Jenny just thought this too good a chance to miss.

Penis ensued.

17

But you have to realize that ‘Garp’ is supposed to be a twisted tracicomedy type novel. There is also penis severings, transsexual footbal players, unicycling bears, and many other ridiculous things.

One of my favorite books.

18

You’re probably thinking of the case of Diane Blood. But that didn’t involve anyone having sex. Not that the fact that the insemination was done artificially made any real difference to the legal issues involved. The implications of the case were in fact far from straightforward, as it actually confirmed that the removal of sperm from someone in a coma is illegal under English law, specifically because of the issue of consent.

19

The movie Hable con ella (Talk to her) has a character impregnating a comatose woman. (In this case, it is clearly rape: he is not married to her, but is her nurse in hospital and is infatuated with her through meeting her before she became comatose).

20

Could a PVS woman complete a succesfull pregnancy?
It would seem a way to keep the mother ‘alive’ through her children, thoug artificial insemination would seem more tastefull than natural sex in this case.