Today, I received a call from April Richardson-Moore [RN, MPH], the author of the scary letter from NYS Health Department [informing that her donor or potential donor had an STD]. She initially told me that she was following up after my call to her office yesterday, as she wasn't in, since I had spoken to her Supervisor, Mara San Antonio,she wanted to know if "Mara", had covered all my concerns.
So, after a lot of research and speaking with the moderators yesterday, I have drawn some, well disturbing conclusions.
So, I of course had a lot of questions for this woman:
1. I wanted to know where, when,how she got my name and address from?
*She told me that it was requested by the authorities, that said donor turn over all information regarding not only direct recipients, but possible recipients as well. The threat was to go back with a court order. So , he did.
[Expectedly so, our government is scary place.]
2. Is it true that Herpes, said disease in question, is only transmitted, skin to skin?
* She proceed to tell me that , that is not true, that if a males penis is ex foliating skin at the time of ejaculation it can end up in the cup with the semen.
3. So my next question was of course, How many cases in your study have you found someone who contracted herpes like that?
*ONE, was her answer.
4. Was this individual tested prior to insemination, because its also my understanding that some people are born with said disease, as an early gift from their parents so, to say.
*For this she couldn't recall.
5. Isn't it true that NYS does NOT mandate Herpes to be included in screening for sperm donors?
*True
5.a. So I said, I should expect that you will have the CDC pull every sperm sample from every bank in NYS, to now test for the possibility of Herpes now that you've come to realize from one case that there is the possibility of it being transferred?
*She said that wasn't feasible.
6.So I should expect you'll be sending out a million or so letters to every single individual, from every single sperm bank in NYS, explaining that there is a possibility that they MAY HAVE been subjected to the Herpes Virus, because NYS does not mandate testing for such STD?
*She then wanted to know where I was going with this.
7. So I told her that, NYS took the time to send me, and god only knows how many other women, a letter, scaring the SHIT out of us, because there "MAY" have been the possibility of having contracted herpes, because said donor's penis,MAY, have been shedding at the time of his donation.
For the record, I have never received a donation, I was merely in contact with this donor, and now NYS is sending me a letter, left me scared to death, while caring for someone else children, I was left sleepless, because quite frankly when I googled your name the only thing I found pertained to HIV!!!!!! So, yeah I'm a little aggravated with you.
*She then proceeded to tell me of the accusations placed upon this donor, and quite frankly, I'm not listing them.
8. I told her, I will not sit here and Negate what this donor is being "accused" of. That she and what ever authorities have that burden of proof. That I felt she was looking for participants to go after said donor, and I will not be a part of that, since I feel that my right, as well as many others, to privacy has been violated, the second he felt his arm was forced to reveal our information.
In the end the truth came out.
*she only seemed to be concerned with the fact that I had sent a copy to the moderators of this group. So I said, actually I sent it to three, and gave them permission to share with any other groups they may know of.
I then proceeded to ask with whom may I speak to about this? Where do I sign up to complain? So many of us have difficulty conceiving, or are pregnant, and you thought nothing of your impending actions here. The lives of the unborn? The emotional state of their mothers and the women trying to conceive. The partners of some who have to also deal with this. Or even the aftermath of what happens when they cause mass hysteria among the public over Herpes.
She gave me the number to the FDA. 1.866.446.9055
[FQ, moderator: April Richardson-Moore is Registered Nurse and holds Master of Public Health degree. Most of her google-able work is indeed concerned with testing for HIV. Please post discussion comments not here but on the FSDR website. Here is the link:
http://freespermdonorregistry.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=12&id=2129&Itemid=37]
