Rose-Marie Chaperon

Assisted Reproduction - Antonia's Story



Posted: Saturday, August 27, 2011

by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC

Today assisted reproduction techniques are widely available due to the advancement medical technology in the US and other countries around the world. Children may be conceived through artificial insemination, either through use of the prospective father’s sperm or sperm from a donor, who may be either known or anonymous. The procedure itself is very expensive, especially if the mother to be does not have a potential donor. There are some known common law issues with the procedure due to the fact it is not regulated by federal legislation. A few of these issues are: rights of the donor, donor’s privacy, and health insurance requirement. The philosophy I would apply to artificial insemination is morality. Is the process morally wrong?  Some claim that using another man's sperm to impregnate a woman is not morally wrong because there is no physical act of adultery involved and there is no intent of adultery. However; if the two people are not married it is not considered adultery. In this case when people speak of morale and adultery I think that most of the time, they are referring to passages from the bible. I think that people should be careful not to allow ethics to govern biblical principles.

The issue of parenting without having a person to assist with when it comes to conceive a child is a very emotional one for me. Being a woman, I always thought it was my obligation to have children because my parents after all had 7 of us. A few years ago, I watched as my sisters and younger brother were contributing to the so-called overpopulated world. I found myself in the state of depression. I was not married; I was not even close to having a child because of my fear of raising a child on my own. In 2008 after ending a long relationship, I decided that I wanted to have a baby and decided to look into locating a sperm donor. I wanted to have a child with someone I at least knew.

My friend Michael offered to donate his sperm,I was extremely excited about having a child. We contacted a physician, I borrowed the money from my 401K to cover the expenses, and needless to say this baby would have cost me a small fortune and probably my insanity.

My friend’s sister asked that we entered into a legal agreement. I visited their attorney’s office and was ready to sign the contract. The attorney assured me that all of my rights would be protected, except he was the attorney of record for the other party, not my attorney. My question was why would he care about my rights and not the rights of his clients?  The contract stipulates the followings in small print: “Rose-Marie Chaperon agrees to relinquish all rights of the unborn child to Michael and Martha 3 days after birth. After reading the small print I politely excused myself and exited the office because I knew I was not ready to deal with the implications which could surface later on. Artificial insemination using sperm from a friend or family member is a bit more complex. In this case, I was expecting the donor to relinquish his parental rights to me, not the other way around; after all that was my wish.

In the future if I ever wish to pursue this path, I will probably go to a fertility clinic where my donor can have anonymity because most US have states have laws protecting the anonymity of donors in artificial insemination.
Rose-Marie Chaperon also works as a Director of Revenue Cycle for healthcare operations. Rose-Marie's experience is process improvement and redesigning patient access and patient financial services areas. Rose Marie is an exceptional A/R guru and has held many Business Office and Patient Financial Services positions throughout her twenty-year tenure in revenue cycle. She is a very proactive leader and the kind of person who can direct a group of people towards their goals. Rose Marie has experience with a variety of software systems and led three hospitals through a system conversion during her assignments there. Rose-Marie is a Certified Healthcare Access Manager (CHAM). Rose-Marie can be reached via e-mail: rosechaperon@hotmail.com or rchaperon@shenahaiti.org

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