What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
NEW DELHI: Following a devastating terror attack by Hamas in Israel, a glimmer of hope has arisen in the form of posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR), offering solace to grieving families.
Earlier in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, Professor Shir Daphne-Tekoah, a medical social worker at the Kaplan Hospital, was struck with a form of crisis that could not be foreseen by either her or her medical staff. Through the many years of her medical career, it was the first time that the doctor bore witness to such a horrifying and gruesome attack across Israel’s farms, villages and a music festival.
Daphne-Tekoah had initially been summoned by the hospital to look after the reports of sexual assaults, being the head of the rape crisis centre. However, the centre later became overcrowded with the injured. According to a CNN report, while condoling the grieving families, Daphne-Tekoah asked a strange, unconventional question to one of the said families, along the lines of, “Would you like me to find out about sperm preservation?”
PSR is a procedure that involves collecting sperm from the deceased which can be used later to attempt pregnancy. The process is usually initiated after 44 to 45 hours since their death, involving the retrieval of sperm from the testicular tissue within the limited timeframe.
The urgency of the situation made the doctor swiftly approach the hospital management, who prodded the retrieval of the sperm of numerous victims who were attacked at the Nova festival. “I have seen dozens of people killed in shootings and accidents, but this was the hardest thing I have done in my life,” said the medical social worker. She recounted the horror of sifting through the lifeless bodies of the festival goers, some even as young as 23 or 24 year olds.
Following this development, the hospital was bombarded with PSR requests to cryogenically freeze the sperm of the affected victims.
The Ministry of Health too has helped by cutting through the red tape by instructing hospitals to approve all PSR requests from the parents of the deceased without engaging a family court. Presently, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) actively suggests the idea of the procedure while informing them of the death of their progeny to the parents.
Dr Noga Fuchs Weizman, the medical director of the sperm bank and the fertility clinic at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, noted a surge in demand for the service since October 7.
