Bioethics

Bioethicist Art Caplan: UK Man, His Surrogate Mom and Their Baby Are Family

By Arthur Caplan A new piece by contributor Art Caplan on NBC News: A British high court has permitted Kyle Casson, a single man, to adopt an eight-month-old boy who was carried and delivered by a surrogate — Casson’s own mother. To diagram this family tree, Casson, 27, technically adopted not his son but his…

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By Arthur Caplan

A new piece by contributor Art Caplan on NBC News:

A British high court has permitted Kyle Casson, a single man, to adopt an eight-month-old boy who was carried and delivered by a surrogate — Casson’s own mother.

To diagram this family tree, Casson, 27, technically adopted not his son but his brother because the woman who carried the baby to term is, legally, the mother. That also means that Casson’s mom gave birth, technically, to a son and a grandson at the same time.

Biologically, the child is her grandson.

The ruling traverses an array of ethical twists and turns. Let’s start with the more common fault lines. […]

Read the full article here.

About the author

  • Art Caplan

    Art Caplan is a bioethicist and has been a long time Bill of Health contributor. He is the Director of the Division of Medical Ethics in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center