Supervision...

Published December 24, 2009

Two decades ago, when our founder Rav Menachem Burstein developed the supervision process, he consulted many poskim of the time. They raised many concerns regarding the processing of genetic materials that each needed to be dealt with in the supervision process.
Imagine that there was a dispute as to the lineage of a child born from IVF. For example, there was a claim that a specific child was not the product of its parents. Who would be able to stand in the Beit Din and bear witness that he is in fact their child? The parents, not having been present in the lab during the processing of the genetic materials could not provide such testimony. Nor could the doctor, since he or she has a vested interest in maintaining their business and reputation which casts a halachic invalidation of their testimony. The supervisor is the only non-biased witness who could provide the testimony.
In such a case, the supervisor must be a halachically valid witness. As such, it would stand to reason that a women could not serve as a supervisor, and that it may even be necessary to have two supervisors that they could be called on later to function as witnesses, since most cases require two valid witnesses.
However, the Mishna teaches that a single female witness is in fact halachically reliable in certification of lineage. In the Mishana’s case, two women give birth to sons at the same time and place. One is the wife of a Kohen, while the other is not. In this case, the midwife is relied upon to identify which child is the Kohen and which is not. From this case we learn that one female witness is acceptable for cases regarding lineage and Puah indeed uses religious women as supervisors.
Since the supervisor is in fact providing “testimony” as to the lineage of the child being formed in the lab, the major requirement is an ironclad certification without any doubt that no mistakes had been made in the laboratory. As noted last week, it is clear that anything short of a full-time supervisory presence is inadequate, as mistakes could be made at times that the supervisor is not physically present. These mistakes, the result of human error, occur without anyone’s knowledge and will rarely, if ever, be discovered.
Additionally, as explained above, supervisors can not be affiliated with the processing facility in any way, lest there be a conflict of interest. Even religious and God-fearing embryologists were deemed insufficient for supervisory services due to this inherent conflict of interest. In discussing this point, Rav Elyashiv told the Rabbis of the Puah Institute that even if he himself was working as an embryologist in the laboratory, he would still need to be independently supervised.
Utilizing this framework, Rav Burstein devised a method of supervision that allows religious women, operating independently of the processing facilities, to certify, without doubt, that the genetic materials being returned to the couples at the end of the processing, is indeed the same material that was given by the couple to the lab.

The Puah Institute for Fertility and Gynecology in Accordance with Halacha is based in Jerusalem and helps couples from all over the world who are experiencing fertility problems. Puah offers free counseling in five languages, halachic supervision, and educational programs. Puah has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Paris. To contact the Puah Institute please call 1-800-071111 in Israel or in the US 718-336-0603. website: http://www.puahonline.org