Get all the very latest news in Ireland straight to your email every single day Sign up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A student died of a heart attack while looking at erotic magazines in a private booth at a sperm bank.

It was Zhen Gang's fourth visit in just over a week.

Medics at the sperm bank set up at Wuhan University in China noticed that the young man seemed to be taking a long time when they still hadn't seen him emerge after two hours alone.

When they checked, they found Zheng Gang lying unconscious on the floor and despite efforts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The tragic death came to light after the young man's family took the sperm bank to court saying that they were responsible for his death.

(Image: EuroPics)

But the court has now ruled that Zheng, 23, who had started studying at the University to become a doctor in 2010, was entirely capable of making his own decisions about his life, including whether he wanted to take part in the sperm bank programme.

The court heard that the young trainee doctor signed up for the programme in January 2011 and in 10 days had made four visits to donate sperm for the universities sperm bank program.

His family had demanded almost £500,000 in compensation, saying that they had pressurised him into agreeing to take part and had not handled the situation properly when he was found unconscious.

A lower court had only awarded the family £19,000 plus £8,000 in funeral costs, and the family had appealed. But the High Court has now upheld the lower court decision.