Sperm retrieval, it can make a man a father even after his unexpected death,
a
lamesa doctor is a leader in the procedure and
took time to walk us through the process.
It's an uncomfortable scenario.
A decision that by definition is
made in emotionally traumatic times but ultimately
could bring loved ones left behind a reason for hope.
Male fertility and sexual medicine specialists in La Mesa is a one stop shop.
This is Dr
VSA
conglomerate of companies that he owns.
They do everything from freezing sperm for future use to vasectomy reversals,
even some fertility help for women.
The work here is essentially about giving life. Each one has a story to tell.
But the latest brand
on the tree of practices is a little different post mortem sperm retrieval.
It can make a man of father after his untimely death.
And this
offers an ability to try to bring some hope and some solace back. Doctor Martin Basa
is the director of male fertility specialists.
The retrieval process isn't new.
It is legal to do in the State of California.
And I deeply believe it is ethical to do and makes sense to do. Doctor Basa
says they will only do the procedure when the death involves
a married couple that had planned to grow their family.
They talk to the widow
and to the parents of the man who died whenever possible
to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
And if that is the case and if the family
agrees to that and everyone is supportive of that,
then that is the type of, of patient that we're interested in
retrieving from
the whole process starts with a phone call. I can get a call on my cell phone
anytime night or day. Mel Cohen is the chief operations officer here.
Once a candidate is cleared,
things start to move from phone call to mobilization
to getting the team out there and going,
how long will that process be?
Great question. It can happen very differently.
In some cases, the patients on a ventilator, they've had a car accident
and they may become an organ donor. So it could be four or five days.
We got lots of time.
But if someone is physically dead, they need to have the retrieval done within
24 hours. They work with 17 teams throughout California.
And it's a relatively simple procedure.
Typically,
the skin is overlying the organ and we would
just go through the skin and take a small portion
of testicular tissue
and sometimes some tissue from the
pius.
The sample then goes to this lab. This is our Andrology laboratory
and
andrology is the study of male hormones and sperm. Ok.
And effectively, this is our laboratory from here. It's stored in a bone,
there's police sensitivity, there's security, there's all sorts of things
because we're guarding some very precious things that is where you can feel the
way of that.
Dr
Vesa points out there are billions of precious assets here,
frozen sperm eggs, embryos and other tissue.
Any decision to attempt a pregnancy won't be rushed.
The practice enforces a one year waiting period
before anything starts to move forward.
And very few have made that decision.
They've only had four successful pregnancies in two decades.
In this scenario, we have a vetting process.
They have to have psychological clearance.
There's a lot of time for them to sort through things because we wanna make sure
that they're not making a decision
out of despair. Uh We, we wanna make sure it's gonna be a positive thing.
This is for unplanned, unexpected deaths,
post mortem pregnancies can only occur through IVF.
There just isn't enough sperm left for insemination.
And they do recommend that men who are planning a
family who could knowingly be entering life and death situations
to freeze their sperm and store it.
People who may be deployed into the high risk military situations, for example.
And I'm sure people want to know how much it costs.
It's $4000 and that includes a year for storage actually with the
cost of that for uh couples who are alive that is actually um
pretty
inexpensive,
um,
super emotional issue. Uh What are some of the legal challenges for the child?
Well, it's legal in California.
So the process is legal but there are
complications when it comes to certain financial issues,
things like wills trusts and benefits.
If those are issues that are going to be important to that child,
those financial ramifications,
they,
that this is something that you should really consult
with an attorney before you move forward on.
And one last thing, yes, they are trying to figure out how to do it with women.
They can't do it yet right now.
But they are working on a method to retrieve eggs in the same type of manner,
post mortem. You know,
it's a conversation
that needs to be had uh among couples that, that feel strongly about this and, and it
pretty amazing that we have the science that can do it.
Yeah, it's again, if you're, if you're going in high risk places,
you should have a plan if you're going to have
a
vasectomy, he recommends doing it because he's done a lot of
vasectomy reversals to freeze, to free sperm. But
uh it is something that is, it's a last resort,
but it's one that can bring some comfort,
some comfort, some beauty, right? For each individual.
So, yeah, thanks for bringing that.