Storage
Frozen embryos can be stored indefinitely at fertility clinics and some hospitals. Storage rates vary on the clinic where the embryos are kept. At the Fairfax Cryobank, prices vary from $40 a month to a pre-paid $1,340 every five years. As the room in these special, freezing storage rooms decrease, the price gets costlier. However, some parents that can no longer afford to keep their children but do not wish to destroy them, often disappear, leaving the clinic in charge of what to do with the frozen embryos.
What happens now?
Pretend you are the head of a hospital. A couple with frozen embryos in storage has fled, leaving you responsible for the extras. However, your hospital cannot cover the expenses. What would you do with them?
Courts' decision
Anonymous | 03/29/2011
I would inform the courts and give the rights to the frozen embryos to them. This is because I believe that frozen embryos are still considered life so I do not want to donate them to science or discard them. However, I also would not put them up for adoption because they are technically not mine. I would give up the rights to the courts.
Legal Rights
Abby | 03/29/2011
It depends on whether or not the frozen embryos are legally under the hopsital's or my name. If it were, I would most likely not put them up for adoption because I think it is wrong to do so without the permission of the biological parents. I don't want them to have a child somewhere out there without them knowing it. I would most likely donate them to science.
Abandoned embryos
Kathy | 03/25/2011
I would put the embryos up for adoption. I think the reason why the parents put the embryos in storage was to prevent the embryos from being discarded. I know that the parents didn't want the embryos in the hands of another couple, but in the act of fleeing, they also abandoned their children(embryos)-giving the head of the hospital the right to determine their fate. Although I am the head of the hospital, I am against the donation of embryos to science. To me, embryos are considered life and I want them to remain living.