Medicine

The defendant Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority refused to permit the export of the claimants’ deceased daughter’s eggs to a treatment centre in New York to be fertilised and implanted in the mother. The claimants sought judicial review. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the defendant’s decision, that the deceased’s wishes had not been sufficiently clear and informed, had been rational and it had not failed to realise or consider the full extent of its discretionary powers. Further, the claimants had had no right to use the eggs, under Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.