Gisela Marrero was devastated when her 31-year-old fiancée collapsed and died suddenly while watching a TV show, but at least she will be able to have his child.
A Bronx judge ruled Friday that Marrero could harvest the sperm of Johnny Quintana, whose body lay in a cooling room in the hospital, according to the Daily News.
"The day before he passed away, we talked about planning for our future, buying an apartment and having another child," said Marrero, who has a 2-year-old son with Quintana. "This was his wish. It's the last thing I can do for him."
Quintana, a concierge and auto mechanic who appeared perfectly healthy, died at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday. Sperm must be harvested within 36 hours to be viable.
Shocked and grief-stricken after her fiancée's sudden death, Marrero recalled the last conversation she had with Quintana about their future and asked officials at Jacobi Medical Center to harvest her dead lover's sperm in a plea to preserve his legacy.
That requires a court order. The family rushed to file the appropriate paperwork and was granted their wish with four hours to spare, according to the Daily News.
"I want my son's sperm to live," Quintana's 56-year-old mother Carmen Moreno pleaded in court. "The Lord took him away from me. This is the only way for him to live on. He wanted this. He wanted this."
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While cases involving the harvest of sperm from a dead man have surfaced in other parts of the country – most recently in Texas – authorities believe this was the first of its kind to appear in a New York courtroom.
Given the lack of precedent and the immediacy of the situation, the presiding judge, Supreme Court Justice Howard Sherman, had to decide quickly.
"There is no basis, as far as I know, not to let them do this," Sherman told the Daily News. "Under this kind of tragic circumstances, this is all that is left for them."
An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of Quintana's death.
