title: The Case of Ms D: A Family's Request for Posthumous Procurement of Ovaries.
abstract: The MedStar Washington Hospital Center clinical ethics team became involved in a case when the family requested the posthumous removal of a patient's ovaries for future reproductive use. This case presents a novel question for clinical ethicists, since the technology for posthumous female reproduction is still in development. In the bioethics literature, the standard position is to refuse to comply with such a request, unless there is explicit consent or evidence of explicit conversations that demonstrate the deceased would have wanted this option pursued. Ms D's case, we suggest, offers an exception to this default position; complying with the family's request could have been ethically permissible in this case, had it been medically feasible.
authors.affiliation: MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Center for Ethics, 110 Irving St., NW, East Bldg Room 3108, Washington, DC USA. Laura.K.Guidry-Grimes@medstar.net.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guidry-Grimes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001778:Blood Coagulation Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000941:ethics; D004535:Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D033061:Ethics Consultation; D005190:Family; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D028681:Moral Obligations; D009014:Morals; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000209:etiology; D010053:Ovary; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D037022:Posthumous Conception / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000941:ethics