Judge OKs Harvesting Dead Man's Sperm

Yesterday, a judge gave permission to a grieving Bronx woman to have sperm extracted from her dead fiance. Johnny Quintana suddenly died on Thursday night, but days earlier, he told his family how he looked forward to having more children with his fiancee Gisela Marrero.

Doctors at Jacobi Hospital told Marrero and the Quintana family that sperm must be harvested within 36 hours of death to still be viable—and that they would need a court order to do so. Quintana's parents signed the petition, which read, "Time is of the essence." The Daily News reports that his mother tearfully testified, "The Lord took him away from me. This is the only way for him to live on. He wanted this. He wanted this."

The News adds, "When Supreme Court Justice Howard Sherman ruled, they had just four hours left. The family rushed out of the courthouse and faxed the paperwork to The Sperm and Embryo Bank of New Jersey," which then sent staff to the hospital. Quintana, who worked as a concierge in an Upper West Side Building, and Marrero have a 2-year-old son named Lucas. While the family won't know until next week whether the sperm is viable, Marrero told the Post, "If it works out, out of all this tragedy something good will come."