Gaining consent to freeze spermatozoa from adolescents with cancer: legal,ethical and practical aspects

Sperm banking for early adolescent cancer patients requires delicate, sensi tive handling and, in the UK, consideration is required of statutory elemen ts. No information at present exists about how adolescents with cancer are normally treated or counselled for sperm banking. Here we highlight the typ e of issues in relation to fertility preservation faced by clinicians and t hose faced by adolescents at a sperm storage laboratory We explore the very real difficulties of bringing together these medical fields of assisted re production, oncology and the various pieces of legislation and focus specif ically on gaining consent. Attention is paid to counselling and communicati on to help the patient reach an effective and informed decision to store sp ermatozoa, The role of parents in contributing towards communication and su pport, together with the legal constraints in decision making, is acknowled ged. How absolute and fully 'informed' consent should be will always remain a contentious issue amongst the various specialists and disciplines. In re lation to sperm storage, as a minimum the patients should understand the pr ocess that they are undertaking so that it is undertaken freely and without pressure. The practical approach to gaining consent that we are using seem s a logical and practical method to help early adolescent patients to store spermatozoa.