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Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice

Under current UK law, an embryo cannot be transferred to a woman's uterus without the consent of both of its genetic parents, that is both of the people from whose gametes the embryo was created. This consent can be withdrawn at any time before the embryo transfer procedure. Withdrawal of conse...

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Autores principales: Sozou, Peter D, Sheldon, Sally, Hartshorne, Geraldine M
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Group 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921283/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20338935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2009.033373
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author Sozou, Peter D
Sheldon, Sally
Hartshorne, Geraldine M
author_facet Sozou, Peter D
Sheldon, Sally
Hartshorne, Geraldine M
author_sort Sozou, Peter D
collection PubMed
description Under current UK law, an embryo cannot be transferred to a woman's uterus without the consent of both of its genetic parents, that is both of the people from whose gametes the embryo was created. This consent can be withdrawn at any time before the embryo transfer procedure. Withdrawal of consent by one genetic parent can result in the other genetic parent losing the opportunity to have their own genetic children. We argue that offering couples only one type of consent agreement, as happens at present, is too restrictive. An alternative form of agreement, in which one genetic parent agrees to forego the right to future withdrawal of consent, should be available alongside the current form of agreement. Giving couples such a choice will better enable them to store embryos under a consent agreement that is appropriate for their circumstances. Allowing such a choice, with robust procedures in place to ensure the validity of consent, is the best way to respect patient autonomy.
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spelling pubmed-29212832010-08-17 Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice Sozou, Peter D Sheldon, Sally Hartshorne, Geraldine M J Med Ethics Law, Ethics and Medicine Under current UK law, an embryo cannot be transferred to a woman's uterus without the consent of both of its genetic parents, that is both of the people from whose gametes the embryo was created. This consent can be withdrawn at any time before the embryo transfer procedure. Withdrawal of consent by one genetic parent can result in the other genetic parent losing the opportunity to have their own genetic children. We argue that offering couples only one type of consent agreement, as happens at present, is too restrictive. An alternative form of agreement, in which one genetic parent agrees to forego the right to future withdrawal of consent, should be available alongside the current form of agreement. Giving couples such a choice will better enable them to store embryos under a consent agreement that is appropriate for their circumstances. Allowing such a choice, with robust procedures in place to ensure the validity of consent, is the best way to respect patient autonomy. BMJ Group 2010-03-24 2010-04 /pmc/articles/PMC2921283/ /pubmed/20338935 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2009.033373 Text en © 2010, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/legalcode.
spellingShingle Law, Ethics and Medicine
Sozou, Peter D
Sheldon, Sally
Hartshorne, Geraldine M
Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
title Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
title_full Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
title_fullStr Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
title_full_unstemmed Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
title_short Consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
title_sort consent agreements for cryopreserved embryos: the case for choice
topic Law, Ethics and Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921283/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20338935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2009.033373
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