These were questions that neither the sperm bank nor the government was asking. Several times Maxey tried to contact IVF Michigan, the bank where he made most of his donations, but it refused to release any information, noting that he signed a waiver to give up his rights to know who used his sperm. That's still common practice among sperm banks unless a donor has agreed to be an "identity release" donor, which gives his offspring the right to get in touch when they turn 18. Even today, sperm banking is not strictly regulated. Currently, there are only recommended guidelines put in place by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine that say a donor should be required to provide a complete medical history to rule out "genetic abnormalities" or a family history of inherited disease and should receive proper counseling. The FDA has guidelines saying that a clinic cannot use a donor with a "relevant communicable disease agent or disease," but does not require genetic testing. Most banks do not do genetic testing either. Despite these loose attempts at guidelines, sperm banking continues to raise a host of ethical, medical, and financial questions. There's no social template for donors who are found by their offspring, or even rules about how many children should come from a single donor.
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According to a former NFL player who is in bad physical shape, parents need to steer clear of playing football--of any kind.
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Can a quadriplegic mother be a good custodial parent to her child? You'd think the answer would be yes, but her boyfriend, the father of her child, doesn't think so.
Kaney O'Neill knows she has limits as a mother.
The 31-year-old Des Plaines woman cannot walk, move her fingers independently or feel anything from the chest down. A decade ago, O'Neill was a Navy airman apprentice when she was knocked from a balcony during Hurricane Floyd, leaving her a quadriplegic.
When she discovered she was pregnant last December, she felt fear and joy, a journey the Tribune chronicled in August. She quickly embraced the opportunity to raise a child, feeling she had the money and family support to make up for her paralysis.
David Trais, her ex-boyfriend and the 49-year-old father of their now 5-month-old son, disagreed that she was up to the challenge.
In September, Trais sued O'Neill for full custody, charging that his former girlfriend is "not a fit and proper person" to care for their son, Aidan James O'Neill.
Disability prejudice is alive and well.
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