What is the process when using a known donor as a sperm source?

Occasionally a couple will request that a living relative of the husband be used as a sperm donor, and this can indeed be done. It should of course be done in the setting of a counselor being present, a psychologist typically, or a psychiatrist, who’s experienced in these matters and can really help to ensure that the dynamics of the situation are healthy. In other words, that there’s no coercion, or other issues that would be putting any of the participants in harm’s way, and that can happen in a number of ways.
There are couples who opt to use a known or directed donor for sperm, and the key is that patients need to realize that if an individual is going to provide sperm for them as a couple, that sperm needs to be frozen and quarantined, and the quarantine period is typically six months in most states. At that point the individual who is providing the donor sperm is then retested to look again to look for infectious diseases, and if the panel of infectious diseases comes back clear, then at that point the sample would be released from quarantine for the couple to use.

These issues vary from state to state, and again it’s really important to stress that the donor and the recipient couple should go through this process very, very thoughtfully and be made very well aware of some of the potential issues long term in terms of having a known donor provide their sperm.