NY - Parents of dead West Point cadet wants to retrieve his sperm, Mar 2019

[JerseyGirl]

When a 21-year-old West Point cadet died after a skiing accident last month, his grieving parents said they couldn't endure being "left without any piece" of their only son.

Shortly after Peter Zhu was declared brain dead last Wednesday — four days after the skiing accident — his parents filed a petition in court asking to retrieve his sperm, which was approved the same day, though an upcoming hearing will determine whether they can keep it.

The couple said their son wanted to be an organ and tissue donor if anything ever happened to him, but there's no indication he ever discussed a potential post-mortem sperm retrieval. However, the parents say the young man had told them he wanted to have five children and that his dream was to live on a ranch with his family and horses.

The hearing in the Zhu case is scheduled for March 21 in state Supreme Court in White Plains, N.Y.

Parents of dead West Point cadet wants to retrieve his sperm - raising ethical and legal questions

 

[Blurgle]

My concern here is what this could lead to.

 

[LadyL]

so they are willing to bring child(ren) into the world who will be born burdened with a deceased father, a possibly non-existent (surrogate) mother and will be raised by elderly grandparents who will die long before the average parents leaving the child(ren) without immediate family

good plan

how about they honour their son in other ways, like volunteering for Big Brothers or Sisters with child(ren) who are missing a parent already

 

[Blurgle]

so they are willing to bring child(ren) into the world who will be born burdened with a deceased father, a possibly non-existent (surrogate) mother and will be raised by elderly grandparents who will die long before the average parents leaving the child(ren) without immediate family

good plan

how about they honour their son in other ways, like volunteering for Big Brothers or Sisters with child(ren) who are missing a parent already

I wonder how much of this is due to traditional Chinese culture, where childlessness is considered basically the worst thing imaginable (note that this is rapidly becoming obsolete in China itself).

 

[LadyL]

I wonder how much of this is due to traditional Chinese culture, where childlessness is considered basically the worst thing imaginable (note that this is rapidly becoming obsolete in China itself).

I thought China had a one-kid law?

 

[Blurgle]

I thought China had a one-kid law?

Two kids now, but a lot of young Chinese are choosing to not have children at all and that’s upsetting a lot of parents and grandparents. The issue is that Chinese folk religion includes the veneration and worship of ancestors, and if you don’t have descendants you won’t be deified.

You might have noticed that cultural traditions last longer among emigrants than among those left behind. Chinese families who have lived in Canada or the US for a century are more likely to cleave to traditional Chinese values, including veneration of ancestors, than Chinese families in China.

 

[LadyL]

Two kids now, but a lot of young Chinese are choosing to not have children at all and that’s upsetting a lot of parents and grandparents. The issue is that Chinese folk religion includes the veneration and worship of ancestors, and if you don’t have descendants you won’t be deified.

You might have noticed that cultural traditions last longer among emigrants than among those left behind. Chinese families who have lived in Canada or the US for a century are more likely to cleave to traditional Chinese values, including veneration of ancestors, than Chinese families in China.

interesting thanks