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Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person [message #137207]

Wed, 09 February 2005 02:07

Blazer
Messages: 3322
Registered: February 2003
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Karma:

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6935477/

This could get hairy...if test tube babies are now persons, all kinds of interesting legal things can happen. Accidentally drop a test-tube, you have now committed manslaughter. Fertility clinics have hundreds of frozen embryos onsite...if their freezer breaks down, are they then guilty of mass murder under the law?

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Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person
Chilling effect possible on IVF, abortion, stem cell research
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET Feb. 8, 2005

All Alison Miller and Todd Parrish wanted was to become parents. But when a fertility clinic didn’t preserve a healthy embryo they had hoped would one day become their child, they sued for wrongful death.

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A judge refused to dismiss their case, ruling in effect that a test-tube embryo is a human being and that the suit can go forward.

Though most legal experts believe the ruling will be overturned, some in the fertility business worry it could have a chilling effect, threatening everything from in vitro fertilization to abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

An end to IVF?
“If the decision stands, it could essentially end in vitro fertilization,�? said Dr. Robert Schenken, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Few doctors would risk offering the procedure if any accident that harmed the embryo could result in a wrongful death lawsuit, said Schenken, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

He said the society, a professional group for fertility doctors, is considering filing a court brief opposing Friday’s ruling by Cook County Judge Jeffrey Lawrence.

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The lawyer for the clinic, James Kopriva, declined to say if an appeal is planned, but added, “We are weighing our options. We disagree with the court’s decision and do not believe Illinois law provides for the remedy provided by the court.�?

In a letters to the couple in June 2000, Dr. Norbert Gleicher, director of the Center for Human Reproduction, said an employee had failed to put an embryo in frozen storage and he apologized for “this oversight.�?

Fuel for anti-abortion activists
If the ruling for the couple holds, it would have no legal standing outside Illinois. However, it could provide impetus for groups elsewhere to push an agenda opposing both abortion rights and stem cell research, said Northwestern University law professor Victor Rosenblum, an abortion foe who has worked with anti-abortion activists.

“I certainly admire the initiative of the Cook County judge in taking this step,�? but it likely will not survive any appeals attempts, Rosenblum said.

The judge refers in his ruling to an Illinois statute that implies that wrongful death lawsuits can be filed on behalf of the unborn regardless of age. In Lawrence’s interpretation, that includes a test-tube embryo before pregnancy — the microscopic bunch of cells that form after an egg is fertilized in the laboratory but before being implanted into the womb.

There are nearly half a million such embryos frozen at fertility clinics nationwide. They are typically extras produced through in vitro fertilization, and most clinics keep them indefinitely until couples decide to use them or authorize their disposal, said University of Minnesota ethicist Jeffrey Kahn.

Widespread implications
Kahn said if the decision stands, “it will have implications not only for embryonic stem cell research, but for all of reproductive medicine, potentially.�?

SPECIAL REPORT
Lori Andrews a reproductive rights lawyer in Chicago, said the Chicago case is reminiscent of disputes in other states in which custody of embryos was at issue — including a Tennessee divorce case in which a lower-court ruling that an embryo was a child was reversed on appeal.

Dr. Ralph Kazer, head of the IVF program at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said fertility specialists are watching the case with interest, but also said he doubts it will stand.

He said the case serves to “simply remind me and to remind my team that we have to continue to be very fastidious about how we handle our embryos.�?

Miller and Parrish, the Chicago couple, had no intent beyond seeking justice for the clinic’s error, said their attorney James Costello. A phone listing for them in Chicago was disconnected and Costello said they did not want to discuss their case with the news media.

“This was a couple who wanted to become parents, this isn’t Roe vs. Wade,�? Costello said, referring to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

“What they’re looking for is a day in court,�? Costello said.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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[Message index]

		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Blazer on Wed, 09 February 2005 02:07
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Nodbugger on Wed, 09 February 2005 06:07
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Doitle on Wed, 09 February 2005 06:18
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Vitaminous on Wed, 09 February 2005 14:10
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 14:11
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: SuperFlyingEngi on Wed, 09 February 2005 14:49
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 14:54
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: SuperFlyingEngi on Wed, 09 February 2005 15:01
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Doitle on Wed, 09 February 2005 15:05
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 15:25
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Jecht on Wed, 09 February 2005 15:25
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Fabian on Wed, 09 February 2005 16:35
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 17:15
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Wed, 09 February 2005 17:56
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 18:13
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Hydra on Wed, 09 February 2005 19:38
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Vitaminous on Wed, 09 February 2005 21:17
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 21:28
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Vitaminous on Wed, 09 February 2005 21:48
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: cheesesoda on Wed, 09 February 2005 21:49
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: warranto on Wed, 09 February 2005 22:26
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Jecht on Wed, 09 February 2005 22:27
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Wed, 09 February 2005 22:29
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Wed, 09 February 2005 22:31
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Jecht on Wed, 09 February 2005 22:35
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Wed, 09 February 2005 22:56
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Doitle on Thu, 10 February 2005 06:11
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Chronojam on Thu, 10 February 2005 06:49
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Hydra on Thu, 10 February 2005 19:18
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Doitle on Thu, 10 February 2005 21:28
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Javaxcx on Thu, 10 February 2005 21:34
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Doitle on Thu, 10 February 2005 22:00
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Fri, 11 February 2005 01:04
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Crimson on Fri, 11 February 2005 04:11
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Jecht on Fri, 11 February 2005 09:13
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Fri, 11 February 2005 16:39
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Jecht on Sat, 12 February 2005 01:31
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Sat, 12 February 2005 11:37
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Javaxcx on Sat, 12 February 2005 11:42
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Jecht on Sat, 12 February 2005 16:27
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Sat, 12 February 2005 19:30
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Crimson on Sat, 12 February 2005 19:39
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Sat, 12 February 2005 20:17
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: Crimson on Sun, 13 February 2005 04:59
		Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person By: IRON FART on Sun, 13 February 2005 13:29

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