The parents of a U.S. Military cadet who died following a skiing accident are asking the court to allow them to use their son's sperm to make his dream of becoming a father a reality.
In what is being now being called as a landmark case, many experts are closely monitoring how the court will rule in the family's request.
"I think it's complicated for sure because you want to bring hope to this family and you want to fill the big hole in their hearts right now," said Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a reproductive specialist. "I don't know if using their son's sperm for embryo creation is going to do that."
Peter Zhu, 21, was just months away from graduating at the top of his class at West Point.
Zhu was from Concord. He was president of the Cadet Medical Society and was planning to attend medical school at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.
According to court papers, Zhu's an organ donor and his parents are asking or a judge's order to extract genetic material from his body as well.
"In addition to retrieving peter’s organs to donate to others in need, we are seeking to retrieve sperm from peter’s body in order to preserve peter’s reproductive genetic material," the legal petition read.
Local
His parents said Zhu is the last male child of his fathers family. In part because of China's "one child" policy, he would be the last to carry on the family's name.
Zhu's family is still awaiting response from a judge.
Over 200 Volunteers from the Corp of Cadets as well as friends and company mates climbed to the ski slope in West Point Saturday where Zhu's accident occured.
To watch the tribute video of the climb, click here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
