## Facts

- Peter Zhu, a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, suffered a skiing accident that left him brain-dead.
- Zhu had previously executed a consent to organ donation.
- Before the hospital terminated life support and harvested Zhu’s organs, Zhu’s parents, Monica and Yongmin Zhu, obtained a court order directing the hospital to retrieve and preserve Zhu’s sperm.
- After retrieval, the parents petitioned the New York Supreme Court for authority to control the preservation and disposition of the collected sperm.
- The parents also sought authority to permit possible future procreative use of the sperm through assisted reproductive technology.
- Zhu left no written directive addressing postdeath disposition or use of his genetic material.
- The parents argued that Zhu would have wanted them to control the sperm and permit posthumous reproduction, relying on evidence of Zhu’s character, values, and statements indicating that family and having children were very important to him.

## Issues

1. Whether, in the absence of an express directive from the deceased adult, the court may grant the decedent’s parents authority to control the preservation and disposition of sperm retrieved shortly before death.
2. Whether the court may allow the parents to authorize possible future posthumous reproductive use of the sperm based on evidence of the decedent’s likely wishes.

## Decision

- The court granted the parents’ application for authority to control the preserved sperm, including its ongoing preservation and ultimate disposition.
- The court permitted the sperm to be preserved for possible future procreative use, finding the request consistent with the decedent’s likely intent as shown by the evidence presented.
- The court treated the parents as appropriate decision-makers for these purposes where there was no written directive and no competing claimant asserting a superior right to control the genetic material.

## Legal Principles

- A decedent’s reproductive interests and bodily autonomy can remain relevant after death; courts focus on carrying out the decedent’s intent rather than creating an independent right in family members to reproduce.
- When there is no written instruction regarding posthumous control or use of gametes, a court may consider reliable evidence of the decedent’s values, statements, and conduct to determine likely intent.
- Parents may be recognized as proper custodians of a deceased adult child’s genetic material when they can show that their requested control and proposed uses are consistent with the decedent’s likely wishes and no closer or conflicting decision-maker appears.
- A court may distinguish between (a) authorizing preservation and custody of retrieved gametes and (b) the later medical and regulatory steps required for assisted reproduction, while still allowing preservation for that purpose.
- Related facts—such as the decedent’s prior organ-donation consent—may be considered as part of the overall record bearing on willingness to allow postdeath bodily donation and use, though organ donation and reproduction raise different concerns.
- Orders concerning custody and potential use of genetic material do not automatically resolve later questions about parentage, inheritance, or benefits for any resulting child, which may be governed by other statutes and proceedings.

## Conclusion

In *In the Matter of the Application of Zhu*, the court granted Peter Zhu’s parents authority to control and maintain his retrieved sperm and allowed it to be preserved for possible future posthumous reproduction, concluding from the record that this course best carried out the decedent’s likely wishes despite the absence of an express written directive.


In the Matter of the Application of Zhu, 64 Misc. 3d 280 (2019)