Medical student dies after donating sperm

A Chinese medical student, who had once donated his sperm to a hospital four times in 10 days, died while making a donation.

Mr Zheng Gang, 23, was found dead in a private booth of a fertility clinic at Wuhan University, after nurses noticed he was spending longer than usual producing his sample.

Medics broke in to find him lying unconscious on the floor, two hours after he first entered the cubicle, ,reported Changjiang Times.

Despite the doctor's efforts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Zheng's tragic death, which happened in February 2012, came to light after his family took the sperm bank in Wuhan city, Hubei province, to court, saying that they were responsible for his death.

But the court has now ruled that Mr Zheng, who had started studying at the university to become a doctor in 2010, was capable of making his own decisions about his life, including whether he wanted to take part in the sperm bank programme, reported Britain's Daily Mail.

The court heard that the trainee doctor signed up for the programme in January 2011 and in a 10-day period had made four visits to donate sperm for the university's sperm bank programme.

His family had demanded 5 million yuan (S$1 million) in compensation, saying that they had pressurised him into agreeing to take part and had not handled the situation properly when he was found unconscious.

A lower court had awarded the family only 190,000 yuan and 80,000 yuan in funeral costs, and the family had appealed.

PREVIOUS DONATIONS

But the High Court has now upheld the lower court decision.

Mr Zheng had donated his sperm on four previous occasions before his death and had even solicited others to donate their semen in the interests of society, according to reports.

The father asked the university to hold an autopsy, but this request was rejected. The son was cremated the day after he died.

Mr Zheng's wife, Ms Wu, also a student at the school, was compensated with a 20,000 yuan reduction in her tuition bill at the top university and help in finding a job, reported the Changjiang Times.

This article was first published on Sep15, 2014.
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