Parents must really want to start a family

Xu Yiping, director of scientific research department at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital

One of the ethics committees at our hospital is responsible for approving patients’ requests for assisted reproduction.

As the number of requests has risen in this field, we have encountered several problematic cases.

In October, a couple (a Chinese woman and a Caucasian man) requested in vitro fertilization because the husband’s sperm motility (ability to move) was very low and they were eligible for a donation from the national sperm bank.

However, the wife requested sperm from a Caucasian.

It was the first time our doctors had dealt with a transnational couple and there was no national standard to refer to, so they forwarded the case to the ethics committee.

We thought the most important step was to advise the couple that only sperm from Chinese men is available in the national sperm bank, so their child would have completely Chinese features.

The committee comprises 13 people from different backgrounds — medical professionals in the fields of psychiatry, gynecology, andrology (diseases and conditions specific to men) and assisted reproduction, in addition to lawyers and social workers from outside of the hospital.

The lawyers suggested that we translate the consent form into the husband’s mother tongue and place the document bearing his signature on the records of the notary office.

In other cases, where women have passed normal reproductive age, we have discussed the appropriate upper age limit for giving birth.

During the discussions, we always considered whether the couple would be physically and financially capable of raising the child until it reached adulthood. We consented to most requests.

Mostly we reject cases when the husband and wife have differing ideas about starting a family.

If the woman has a strong desire for a baby but the man doesn’t, or the wife comes to the hospital with a consent document bearing the man’s signature, we will always refuse to approve the move and we will always ask the doctors to talk with the husband.

Having a child must always be a genuine joint decision for the couple involved. Xu Yiping spoke with Zhou Wenting.