title: "Let Me Keep My Dead Husband's Sperm": Ethical Issues in Posthumous Reproduction.
abstract: The feasibility of posthumous reproduction when the surviving partner is female has brought to light many ethical, moral, social, and legal issues. This review aims to summarize these issues and to assist clinicians who may be faced with such requests. A question list, used for health technologies assessment, was utilized in a question-answer approach as the review methodology. Of the 1,208 publications identified through a comprehensive literature search in biomedical, psychological, and ethical databases, 31 articles included arguments related to one or more questions from the predefined question set. Key stakeholders identified include the deceased, the requesting party, the resultant child, the physician, and society. Key ethical issues relevant to posthumous reproduction include the four traditional pillars of medical ethics--autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice--as well as the stakeholders' rights and sociocultural attitudes. The ethical framework formulated by these issues has been incorporated in a clinical ethics decision-making tool that could prove useful to clinicians and decision makers.
authors.affiliation: Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, Times Squre, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 4EP UK. n.panagiotopoulo@oxfordalulmni.org.
authors.forename: Nikoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Panagiotopoulou
authors.affiliation: Gateshead Health Foundation Trust, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 4YL UK.
authors.forename: Stamatios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karavolos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D026686:Beneficence; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028681:Moral Obligations; D009014:Morals; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D037022:Posthumous Conception / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D046269:Reproductive Rights / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012935:Social Justice; D013094:Spermatozoa; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*