

A court in Wuhan has ruled against the family of a doctoral student who died while donating sperm in a lawsuit against the university’s sperm donation center.

The student, Zheng, had begun studying for his doctoral degree in 2010 and was an attending physician at his university’s affiliate hospital, Want China Times reports.

Zheng had volunteered to take part in a test run for his university’s sperm bank before its opening, and signed an agreement to complete a health check every six months during the time. He completed his first health check in January 2011.

The student donated sperm four times over a span of 11 days. On February 12, staff at the donation center realized that he hadn’t come out of his private room in over two hours, and went in to find him lying unconscious on the ground. Doctors were unable to resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Zheng’s family demanded four million yuan in compensation from the sperm bank, which had originally offered to pay Zheng’s funeral costs as well 88,000 yuan in compensation. The family believes the bank was responsible for persuading Zheng to donate and that it violated regulations when handling his death.

The court first ruled that the sperm bank share the costs with the family and that the bank compensate 190,000 yuan. The family appealed.

The court decided in the second ruling that Zheng was competent in making his own decision and the three defendants at the sperm bank weren’t responsible for his sudden death. The original ruling was upheld.

[Image via China Daily]





