# Why you cannot take someone else's ball(s) and go home **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226 "2019-04-08T16:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/1 "2019-04-08T16:25:07Z")
While penile transplants can and do happen, I found out that testicle transplants can but _won’t_ happen because [if the transplant is successful it will produce the sperm of the donor and not the recipient,](https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/26/17286728/penis-scrotum-transplant-surgery-us-veteran-johns-hopkins-testicles-ethics) and doctors are very hesitant when it comes to taking reproductive material without consent. Learn something new every day, I guess. :eek:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/2 "2019-04-08T16:34:21Z")
Wow, that’s pretty fascinating. Also: Testicle Ethics - band name! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/3 "2019-04-08T16:47:40Z")
How do they know this? Did they run some testes or something? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/4 "2019-04-08T16:50:19Z")
Maybe the proof is in the pudding? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/5 "2019-04-08T17:00:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > While penile transplants can and do happen, I found out that testicle transplants can but _won’t_ happen because [if the transplant is successful it will produce the sperm of the donor and not the recipient,](https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/26/17286728/penis-scrotum-transplant-surgery-us-veteran-johns-hopkins-testicles-ethics) Uh, yeah? How could it possibly work any other way? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/6 "2019-04-08T17:08:50Z")
I’d be happy to have my testicles transplanted if I die. It’s like the evolutionary jackpot! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/7 "2019-04-08T17:11:15Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Wow, that’s pretty fascinating. > > Also: Testicle Ethics - band name! I might flip it around: The Ethical Testicles ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/8 "2019-04-08T17:22:21Z")
[Not if the transplant is better two identical twins](https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(16)43457-6/pdf) And to quote Sheldon Cooper: I have an idetic memory. Sometimes it’s a curse. I read an article about this case in a supermarket tabloid and never forgot it. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/9 "2019-04-08T17:22:33Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Uh, yeah? How could it possibly work any other way? I would have thought the transplanted testicle just stopped producing sperm. Of course, I hadn’t heard of testicle transplantation before this story. > [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > I might flip it around: > > The Ethical Testicles Definitely better! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/10 "2019-04-08T17:38:11Z")
Hmmm… what if you receive testicles from two different donors? If you then impregnate someone, is each father’s identity a 50/50 chance? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/11 "2019-04-08T17:47:08Z")
Then you are related to your mother by birth but your father by marriage. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/12 "2019-04-08T18:11:47Z")
Took a lot of balls to post this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/13 "2019-04-08T18:15:36Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Took a lot of balls to post this thread. No-Just two. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/14 "2019-04-08T18:31:47Z")
I’m assuming the article’s talking about today’s current landscape of ethics and consent. I mean, it’s one thing to not realize that sort of transplant is possible and to have not given consent, but why not just include it on the form, so that going forward, it IS something donors would be able to opt in/out of? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/15 "2019-04-08T18:44:31Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’m assuming the article’s talking about today’s current landscape of ethics and consent. > > I mean, it’s one thing to not realize that sort of transplant is possible and to have not given consent, but why not just include it on the form, so that going forward, it IS something donors would be able to opt in/out of? The problem is that you cannot sign away the hereditary rights for sisters, brothers, parents grandparents, uncles, aunts etc. The child of the donor’s sperm would be related to the donor’s family. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/16 "2019-04-08T18:50:48Z")
This is just nutty. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/17 "2019-04-08T18:53:23Z")
Is it even possible to give up for adoption a child that has yet to even be conceived? ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/18 "2019-04-08T18:59:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The problem is that you cannot sign away the hereditary rights for sisters, brothers, parents grandparents, uncles, aunts etc. The child of the donor’s sperm would be related to the donor’s family. Sperm donation doesn’t work like that. Why couldn’t testicle donation work the same way as sperm donation, as long as it is all spelled out in advance? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/19 "2019-04-08T19:00:51Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Hmmm… what if you receive testicles from two different donors? If you then impregnate someone, is each father’s identity a 50/50 chance? An inestimable ethical testicle. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226/20 "2019-04-08T19:07:55Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > Sperm donation doesn’t work like that. Why couldn’t testicle donation work the same way as sperm donation, as long as it is all spelled out in advance? Can you give irrevocable rights to someone for all sperm produced _and yet to be produced_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-cannot-take-someone-elses-ball-s-and-go-home/832226.md?page=2)