Sperm spat: Father sues varsity over son's death

A COURT in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, will begin hearings next Tuesday on a controversial case where a father has sued a university after his son died during sperm donation last year.

Zheng Gang, a 34-year-old medical doctoral student with Huazhong University of Science and Technology, is said to have felt uncomfortable during his fifth donation at a sperm bank affiliated to the school and died on way to hospital on February 12 last year.

His father, Zheng Jinglong, is now suing the university for a total of 4 million yuan (US$630,343) in compensation for his son's death, claiming he has evidence showing the death was directly linked to sperm donation, according to the Guangzhou Daily.

The university had previously signed an agreement with the father saying that it will pay the family 88,000 yuan on humanitarian grounds for Zheng Gang's "accidental death in sperm bank during his voluntary donation," according to the Yangtze River Times. Before signing it, Zheng had to agree to cremate his son's body two days after his death, the newspaper said.

But so far the cause of his death remains unknown.

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