A medical miracle occurred in the midst of the Israel-Gaza war. Israeli doctor Dr. Hadas Levy rushed to retrieve her lover's sperm just 20 minutes after his death. A year and a half later, a son was born using only 9 viable sperm from the deceased lover. This unprecedented incident has been discussed around the world.
Captain Netanel Silberg died in a military operation in Gaza. His fiancée, Israeli pediatrician Dr. Hadas Levy, received the news. He did not even have time to grieve. Because the time to apply the postmortem sperm retrieval (PSR) method is very short.
In Dr. Levy's words, "This child is my resistance, the answer to protecting our lineage." With that determination, he started running. Ten-hour struggle: Only 9 sperm were saved from the body.
The task of retrieving the dead captain's sperm at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem was extremely difficult. Sperm viability quickly deteriorates after death in an oxygen-free environment.
Hospital researchers tried to revive the sperm for about 10 hours using various methods. In the end, only 9 viable sperm were found. Doctors also had doubts, was it possible to get pregnant with such a small number of cells?
The bigger question was about the legal and ethical. Netanel and Hadas Levi were not yet married. So the question arose whether she had the right to use her dead lover's sperm.
Nevertheless, Levi overcame all obstacles and became pregnant in October 2024 with the help of IVF. She said, "It's like a miracle from science fiction."PSR technology was born in the 80s of the last century. The first baby was born using this method in 1999.
In this technology—Sperm is collected from the body of a brain-dead or recently deceased person within 24-36 hours of death.
Sperm is extracted using an epididymal aspiration method by inserting a needle through the skin.They are then frozen and stored, just like in a fertility clinic.
In the future, fertilization with an egg is carried out using the IVF method.
Although this method is not very complicated technically, there are still ethical and legal conflicts surrounding it in many countries.
0 Comments