German man forced to support IVF son created without his consent
by Michael Cook | 6 May 2018 | 2 comments
Five years ago, a German couple, Karl and Inge, signed an agreement granting permission to an IVF clinic to create embryos with their frozen sperm and eggs. Then came divorce. Then Inge forged Karl’s signature twice to create embryos which resulted in the birth of a son. Then Karl was billed for child support.
Karl, unwilling to support children he had never consented to create, filed a lawsuit to be released from the obligation. He contended that after the separation he had revoked his permission for creating the embryos and that the clinic should assume financial support for the child. Inge, now 42, has subsequently been convicted of forgery.
But a regional court in Munich has ruled against Karl after finding that he had not been clear enough when he phoned the clinic to revoke his consent for the fertilized eggs to be used. At the time, he was told to discuss the matter with his ex-wife. When the clinic personnel had not heard back from him, they assumed his consent. The clinic, the court added, had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the forged signatures.
Karl, unwilling to support children he had never consented to create, filed a lawsuit to be released from the obligation. He contended that after the separation he had revoked his permission for creating the embryos and that the clinic should assume financial support for the child. Inge, now 42, has subsequently been convicted of forgery.
But a regional court in Munich has ruled against Karl after finding that he had not been clear enough when he phoned the clinic to revoke his consent for the fertilized eggs to be used. At the time, he was told to discuss the matter with his ex-wife. When the clinic personnel had not heard back from him, they assumed his consent. The clinic, the court added, had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the forged signatures.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Personally, I'm not a big fan of super-hero films. I get a bit tired of the wisecracks and the fake explosions and crumbling buildings. But that's me, I'm afraid. Age. Generational change. Fuddy-duddy etc.
However, they are interesting thermometers of the culture. Black Panther certainly taps into a revolt against racism. Guardians of the Galaxy revolves around lost fatherhood. And the really, really bad guy in the latest epic, Avengers: Infinity War, is obsessed with population control. He has a plan for eliminating half the population of the earth. It's a reprise of Paul Ehrlich's 1968 damp squib, The Population Bomb, which predicted social collapse and environmental disaster unless the brakes were put on world population. It was a very scary script and it never happened, like most disaster movies.
What I wonder is this: does this mean that over-population still scares people or that it no longer does? Thanos, after all, is a villain, and the Avengers are out to defend the world, not support his extreme environmentalist creed. My feeling is that very few people are fretting about over-population as such, although the real problem, a shrinking and greying population, isn't attracting much interest either. Any thoughts?
However, they are interesting thermometers of the culture. Black Panther certainly taps into a revolt against racism. Guardians of the Galaxy revolves around lost fatherhood. And the really, really bad guy in the latest epic, Avengers: Infinity War, is obsessed with population control. He has a plan for eliminating half the population of the earth. It's a reprise of Paul Ehrlich's 1968 damp squib, The Population Bomb, which predicted social collapse and environmental disaster unless the brakes were put on world population. It was a very scary script and it never happened, like most disaster movies.
What I wonder is this: does this mean that over-population still scares people or that it no longer does? Thanos, after all, is a villain, and the Avengers are out to defend the world, not support his extreme environmentalist creed. My feeling is that very few people are fretting about over-population as such, although the real problem, a shrinking and greying population, isn't attracting much interest either. Any thoughts?
Michael Cook Editor BioEdge |
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