A court case revealed that a Chinese student had been found unresponsive inside a private booth in a university facility as he tried to provide his fourth sperm donation in only 10 days.
Twenty-three-year-old Zheng Gang, who's working his way into becoming a doctor, had just donated in a facility in Wuhan University located in Hubei, China. He's about to give his fourth when, two hours after, nurses realized he had yet to turn over his sample. Upon checking the booth, he was found on the floor, already unresponsive. Efforts to revive him proved futile.
This tragedy happened two years ago, but it came to light when his family decided to take the sperm bank to court. They believed that the facility coerced him to donate his sperm. They were also irresponsible and negligent in the way they handled Gang after he was found unresponsive in the booth.
To compensate for their loss, the family wanted the bank to pay more than $600,000. However, the court judged denied the claim for compensation, explaining that Gang was old enough to make personal decisions. Some of his friends also vouched that Gang used to encourage them to donate as well.
They received around $40,000, $11,000 of meant for the cost of his funeral. Fortunately for the family, they later appealed the decision, which was later upheld by the higher court. Gang's wife who also studied in the same university received a job assistance. Her tuition fee was also reduced up to $3,000.
Despite China's strict one-child policy, many men are still able to donate their sperm, especially since many hospitals are now adding facilities to make the process easier and more convenient. In Nanjing, a hospital introduced a new machine known as an automated extractor. It aims to make sperm extraction more "hands free," since users simply need to insert a massage pipe and adjust its settings to their preference. The machine may also help men who may struggle producing sperm sample.