Sperm Sample Debacle
 Lawyers say time is running out for men to seek compensation from the NHS after their sperm samples were accidentally destroyed at an Edinburgh hospital. Almost 300 men, many of them cancer patients, were affected when a freezer unit malfunctioned four years ago. They say they have been denied the chance to become fathers.
When Mark Morrison was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphona in 1993, he was warned the treatment would probably leave him infertile. He decided to donate some sperm so it could be frozen for future use but when a freezer unit at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital malfunctioned in 2001, he was one of almost 300 men whose samples were damaged. Mr Morrison is now Cancer free but is also infertile.
He said: ''It is quite a tragic thing to happen but you just have to get on with it. Unfortunately it is something that we never asked for, it has been forced upon us and we try and cope day to day. You have your hard times and you have your good times but you just don't know how it is going to affect you in later life.''
Mark is one of ten men suing NHS Lothian over the episode but lawyers representing the men say that many more may be eligible for compensation and are concerned that with a legal deadline for claims of March 14th, they'll miss their chance to win justice.
Mark Morrison added: ''I want a formal apology for a start, I want whoever is responsible to suffer the consequences of their actions and we just want to be treated fairly and be compensated for the loss that we have to endure.''
NHS Lothian is fighting the action, claiming its staff were not guilty of negligence.
Paul Ellis - Men's Health 
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