Doctor who was undergoing IVF when her husband died wins the right to harvest his sperm to have a second child in landmark decision
- Dr Jennifer Gaffney extracted her late husband's sperm a day after he died
- She won court permission on Friday to allow her to impregnate herself with it
- Both families backed her plan to have husband Daniel's second child
- Case is the second of its kind in the state of Queensland
A doctor who extracted her late husband's sperm the day after he died has won a bid to conceive his second child and can now start the family they planned to have.
Dr Jennifer Gaffney, 35, an anaesthetist, and Dr Daniel Gaffney, 38, a dermatologist, had been married for five years and shared a toddler son.
The UK-born couple who lived in Queensland were planning to have another child when the dermatologist died suddenly on the Sunshine Coast last year.
Dr Jennifer Gaffney won a bid to conceive a child from her dead husband's sperm on Friday
Dr Gaffney outside the Supreme Court of Brisbane on Friday after her victory. She can now have the second child she and her husband had planned
Dr Gaffney had seen a practitioner about undergoing IVF on the day her husband died from natural causes.
His sperm was removed from his body the day after he was found dead.
Now Dr Gaffney, backed by both of their families, has been told by the Supreme Court in Brisbane that she can use it.
It is the second case of its kind in the state, after Toowoomba woman Ayla Cresswell was granted permission to conceive a baby with her late boyfriend's sperm.
Dr Jennifer Gaffney, 35, an anaesthetist, and Dr Daniel Gaffney, 38, a dermatologist, originally from the UK, had been together for more than 12 years and married for five. They were looking to get pregnant again when Daniel died of natural causes
Jennifer Gaffney learned her husband had suddenly died after suffering a sudden heart attack during a work trip to the Sunshine Coast on November 6, 2018.
She had returned home from an appointment with a fertility specialist just hours prior, the ABC reported.
Dr Gaffney texted that same specialist shortly after learning of her husband's death, and along with verbal consent from a Queensland coroner, she had testicular tissue removed from his body and preserved.
She sought permission from the Supreme Court in Brisbane to use her dead husband's sperm.
'I have carefully considered this application to make sure that this is not made in response to my grief,' Dr Gaffney wrote in an affidavit filed to the court.
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'I have firmly formed a view that not only is this what Dan would want, it is what I want in his absence.
'I also strongly believe that another child will be in the best interests of [our other child].'
Dr Gaffney said she and her husband were always planning to grow their brood, and that she would be willing to do so as a single parent in light of the circumstances.
On November 6, 2018 Jennifer Gaffney learned her husband had suddenly died after suffering a coronary artery dissection during a work trip to the Sunshine Coast
She sought permission from the court to use the harvested sperm to impregnate herself with the couple's second child and on Friday permission was granted.
The case was reminiscent of Ayla Cresswell, 25, who was granted permission to harvest sperm from her boyfriend Joshua Davies immediately after he died suddenly in August 2016.
In June 2018, Brisbane Supreme Court justice Sue Brown handed down her landmark decision, allowing Ms Cresswell to use the sperm to fall pregnant.
Dr Gaffney said she and her husband were always planning to grow their brood, and that she would be willing to do so as a single parent in light of the circumstances
