Representational image
The court, however, noted that the hospital had failed to use the statutory Form 9, which specifically provides an option for handing over embryos to the wife in the event of the husband’s death. The court also observed that the husband had opted to allow the embryos to be used, indicating his intention that they be put to a ‘meaningful purpose’. Relying on the 129th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, which supports posthumous reproduction based on ‘inferred consent’ and the partner’s interest in parenthood, the court ruled in favour of the petitioner. Allowing the writ petition, the court directed the hospital to release the embryos and permit their use for assisted reproduction.
Following her husband’s death in 2021, the hospital refused to release the embryos, citing the absence of specific written consent under Section 22(1)(a) of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, 2021. Justice Harisankar V Menon delivered the judgment on a petition filed by an Alappuzha native challenging SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram’s refusal to release the embryos for an IVF procedure. The petitioner and her late husband had undergone infertility treatment at the hospital, where embryos were cryopreserved.