SPERM CONSERVATION AND HIV-INFECTION

In the course of preparing a medico-legal report in civil proceedings instituted by a couple contaminated by EW, the case of Mr B, was broug ht to our attention. At the end of 1984 Mr B. had a serious accident i n consequence of which he received a number of blood transfusions. The post-transfusion inquiry established blood contamination. Several yea rs later (in 1990), and for reasons closely related to the above accid ent, Mr B. and his wife were having difficulty in having a child. They decided to resort to intraconjugal artificial insemination (IAI) firs t through a private laboratory and then through a CSCOS (Centre for th e Study and Conservation of Human Ova and Sperm). In 1992, Mr B. and h is wife were both found to be HIV positive; the infection was ascribed to the IAI, as the most plausible cause. In the face of such dramatic events, we wondered why neither the laboratory nor the CSCOS had chec ked whether the couple were HIV positive. Reflecting on this led us: ( a) to make an inventory of the different organizations and facilities empowered to manipulate sperm for medically assisted procreation (MAP) ; (b) to investigate their obligations in terms of the prevention and control of specific diseases.