Cork woman refused access to her dead husband's sperm, despite his written consent 

After being referred while her husband was still alive, Macroom woman Melanie Dineen has now been told there is no protocol in place in the public system to use the samples of a deceased spouse. Picture: Dan Linehan

A Cork woman who wants to use her dead husband’s stored sperm to have a child has been told there is no protocol for her to do so through the public health system. The refusal comes even though her husband gave his written consent before his death.

Melanie Dineen’s husband Dylan Fleming passed away on March 9, having been diagnosed with urethral cancer less than a year earlier. They had married just a month before his death.

Last September, the couple was referred to a private fertility clinic to harvest and freeze his sperm. The forms contained a section for consent to use the samples in the event of death, which Crosshaven native Dylan had signed.

In December, the Macroom-based couple decided to proceed with their plans to have a child. Melanie said: “We had just bought our house, we were concentrating on doing that up and we had a room which could be a nursery and we had one boy and one girl name picked out.”

We were just preparing to begin this whole next chapter. We had been together just over five and a half years.

However, during an appointment in January, Melanie was diagnosed with fertility issues including a low egg count During that appointment, a fresh application form was filled out which again included permission for the use of Dylan’s stored sperm in the event of his death.

Because of Melanie’s fertility issues, the couple was advised that IVF was their best chance of conception.

However, Melanie said the approximate €6,000 cost of private IVF treatment was not feasible as the couple had taken out a mortgage for their home. There were also high healthcare costs for Dylan.

In February, they were referred to the public system but Dylan’s condition deteriorated and he passed away on March 9 — before the application forms were filled out.

A week later, a reminder was sent to have the paperwork completed or the referral would be removed from the public system.

Melanie told the Irish Examiner that she was then advised to fill out both her and Dylan’s forms, noting on his that he had died.

However, she has now been told that there is no protocol in place in the public system to use the samples of a deceased spouse.

She has now been advised to seek a referral again from her GP, in the hope that her application could be accepted.

She wants the reassurance that the option is open to her when she is ready for the IVF treatment — possibly at some point next year.

She said that while she could afford one round of IVF privately, she is concerned that if that failed, she would not be able to afford a second round. And she said that she would also not qualify for the public system at that point if she had already done one private round.

She said that planning to have their child is one of the ways she is coping with Dylan’s loss. “

Knowing that I will have a little bit of him again but I am unfortunately in a position of having to do all this in order to achieve it.

Her case was raised in the Seanad by Sinn Féin senator Nicole Ryan.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the department of health said the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 signed into law last July will regulate fertility clinics providing services including posthumous assisted human reproduction. However, the legislation has not yet been commenced.

The statement confirmed posthumous assisted human reproduction is not among the services currently funded through the publicly-funded treatment initiative for assisted human reproduction. It added that it “is not envisaged to be included in any forthcoming extension of the initiative”.