A British court is considering a claim to release a deceased patient's fertility clinic records to their heirs.

The case is being heard by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the family division of the High Court of England and Wales, who has restricted reporting of many details including the identity and gender of the deceased person.

'The president of the family division has heard today in private an application concerning an application under the Access to Health Records Act 1990 to a fertility clinic by a personal representative of a deceased's estate for access to health records regarding the posthumous storage and use of sperm and/or embryos' said a court statement.

Representatives from the deceased's estate have applied for the release of 'sperm and/or egg' storage and use records under the Access to Health Records Act. The act gives individuals (or for patients who have died, their representatives) the right to access their own health records.

However, additional statutory restrictions apply to disclosure of information around fertility treatment, based in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Acts 1990 and 2008. These apply over and above standard medical confidentiality, meaning that information about fertility treatment cannot be included in a patient's general medical records unless the patient specifically consented for it to be. 

This case continues to debate on what happens to frozen gametes or embryos after the death of the patient and has been described as a balance between the rights of the deceased and the rights of those who are not yet born by the Guardian.

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Reproduced from BioNews with permission, a web- and email-based source of news, information and comment on assisted reproduction and human genetics, published by Progress Educational Trust.