The increase in the disturbing number of “fertility fraud” cases continues, with claims that numerous women have given birth to children fathered by more than 50 doctors across the United States this year, as medical professionals in Washington and Vermont faced new allegations of illegally using their own sperm to inseminate patients.
Key Facts
A woman named Sarah Deboyan filed a lawsuit in federal court in the Massachusetts district on Wednesday, accusing Dr. Merle Berger, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, of using his own sperm to inseminate her in 1980 after promising her that the sperm would come from an anonymous donor she did not know; Berger’s attorney denied the allegations.
Dr. Christopher Herndon, a former doctor at the University of Washington, surrendered his medical license voluntarily last month after one of his former patients accused him of secretly fathering one of her children, a report from Washington’s medical commission revealed last week.
A woman from Idaho stated in a lawsuit filed in October that she visited Dr. David Kleypas in Spokane, Washington for assistance in conceiving in 1989 and was assured that a sperm donor would be selected based on the traits she chose, but after 33 years, her daughter discovered her biological father’s identity through a 23andMe DNA test; his attorney declined to comment on this to the Associated Press.
In Vermont, a woman has filed a lawsuit against Dr. John Boyd Kwiatkowski III for the second time, accusing him of attempting to avoid paying the $2.2 million judgment she won due to damages to her daughter over 40 years ago – Cheryl Russo learned that Kwiatkowski was her father decades after her birth through two DNA testing services. A second individual reached a settlement in a similar case with Kwiatkowski for $100,000 in 2021, according to VTDigger.
Dr. Morris Wortman, a prominent fertility doctor in New York, passed away last May while a lawsuit was pending against him claiming he used his own sperm to inseminate numerous women in the 1980s – the daughter of one of his former patients discovered she had at least nine half-siblings using original DNA testing.
Important Comments
“This heinous act is called medical rape, but whatever you call it, Dr. Berger’s horrific and intentional behavior is unethical, unacceptable, and illegal,” said Adam Wolf, Deboyan’s attorney, to reporters on Wednesday.
Main Background
No fewer than 50 doctors in the United States have been accused of fraud related to sperm donation in recent years, according to a 2022 New York Times report, not including those accused this year in Vermont and Washington. Currently, “the existing security and protection measures make (fertility fraud claims) nearly impossible,” according to a spokesperson for the Boston IVF fertility clinic founded by Berger, but many fraud allegations from individuals born in the 1980s and before indicate that this wasn’t always the case. Modern DNA testing has revealed several fertility fraud cases in recent decades. One such case dates back to the early 1990s, where Dr. Cecil Jacobson in Virginia admitted to fathering as many as 75 children through artificial insemination from 1976 to 1988. He stated he used his own sperm in cases where frozen sperm from the sperm bank was the only option available. Earlier this year, a jury awarded $8.75 million to families claiming that Dr. Paul Brennan Jones from Grand Junction, Colorado was the sperm donor for at least 17 individuals born between 1976 and 1997. It was established that American doctor Donald Klein, now 85, fathered numerous children through illegal artificial insemination before his arrest in 2016. Klein’s fraud exposed loopholes in the legal system that largely fail to protect the rights of fertility patients and their children in such cases, and Indiana became the first state to classify fertility fraud as a criminal offense in 2019. Klein’s story was highlighted in the 2022 Netflix documentary “Our Father,” which documented dozens of “secret children” fathered illegally.
The Number
The Major
94. This is the number of children Klein illegally fathered through artificial insemination before his arrest.
Main Criticism
Victims and lawyers have united over the past decade to fight for improved legal protections in cases of fertility fraud. Since the Klein case, at least eight states have joined Indiana in passing legislation regarding fertility fraud, and a few other states have proposed new laws, although there is currently no specific federal legislation. Nevada, which banned fertility fraud earlier this year, did so only after the doctor failed to be held accountable for allegations that he fathered at least twenty-two children using his own sperm to inseminate his patients without their consent. A woman who was born after her mother received fertility care from Dr. Quincy Fortier, a prominent fertility specialist in the 1990s, was discovered through DNA testing to have at least 24 half-siblings. When brought to court, his lawyers pointed out that no actual crime had been committed. Some states, like Texas, have enacted laws classifying fertility fraud as a form of sexual assault. U.S. Representatives Lisa McClain (R-MI), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) introduced the Fertility Fraud Prevention Act of 2023 in May, which would make the crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee but has not progressed.
Further Reading
New York Times: When Ancestry Research Reveals Fertility Fraud (Published in 2022)
Associated Press: Former Harvard Professor Accused of Secretly Using His Sperm to Inseminate Patient
From Forbes: When Fertility Clinics Go Wrong by Naomi Kan
From Forbes: Decline in Sperm Counts Over the Decades – Researchers Believe Cell Phones May Help Explain Why by Robert Hart
Follow me on Twitter. Send me a secure tip. Mary Witfill Roeloffs
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