diff --git a/effectful-th/src/Effectful/TH.hs b/effectful-th/src/Effectful/TH.hs
index ba70aed..6f82818 100644
--- a/effectful-th/src/Effectful/TH.hs
+++ b/effectful-th/src/Effectful/TH.hs
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ import Effectful.Dispatch.Dynamic
 -- lowercase or removes the @:@ symbol in case of operators. Any fixity
 -- annotations defined for the constructors are preserved for the corresponding
 -- definitions.
+--
+-- If the constructor declaration has Haddock, then this is reused for the
+-- sending functions, otherwise a simple placeholder is used.
 makeEffect :: Name -> Q [Dec]
 makeEffect = makeEffectImpl True
 
@@ -246,10 +249,15 @@ makeTyp esVar substM resTy = \case
 
 withHaddock :: Name -> [Dec] -> Q [Dec]
 #if MIN_VERSION_template_haskell(2,18,0)
-withHaddock name dec = withDecsDoc
-  ("Perform the operation '" ++ nameBase name ++ "'.") (pure dec)
+withHaddock name decs = do 
+  existingHaddock <- getDoc (DeclDoc name)
+  let newDoc = 
+        case existingHaddock of
+          Just doc -> doc
+          Nothing -> "Perform the operation '" ++ nameBase name ++ "'."
+  withDecsDoc newDoc (pure decs)
 #else
-withHaddock _ dec = pure dec
+withHaddock _ decs = pure decs
 #endif
 
 checkRequiredExtensions :: Q ()
diff --git a/effectful-th/tests/ThTests.hs b/effectful-th/tests/ThTests.hs
index d119749..634f2d9 100644
--- a/effectful-th/tests/ThTests.hs
+++ b/effectful-th/tests/ThTests.hs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ main = pure () -- only compilation tests
 data SimpleADT (m :: Type -> Type) (a :: Type)
   = SimpleADTC1 Int
   | SimpleADTC2 String
+  -- ^ This one does the second thing
 
 -- Test generation of fixity information.
 infixl 1 `SimpleADTC1`
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ makeEffect ''ADTSyntax3
 
 data GADTSyntax :: Effect where
   GADTSyntaxC1 :: Int -> GADTSyntax m Int
+  -- | I am documented
   GADTSyntaxC2 :: String -> GADTSyntax m String
   GADTSyntaxC3 :: IOE :> es => Bool -> GADTSyntax (Eff es) a