GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: Indiana fertility doctor accused of using own sperm

sábado, 24 de septiembre de 2016

BioEdge: Indiana fertility doctor accused of using own sperm

Indiana fertility doctor accused of using own sperm

by Michael Cook | 24 Sep 2016 |

Another American fertility doctor is in court over allegations that he used his own sperm to treat patients.

Now retired, 77-year-old Dr Donald Cline, who ran a clinic in Indianapolis, appears to have fathered 8 children after secretly donating his own sperm 50 times to his patients in the 1970s and 80s. He told them that it came from medical or dental students or residents and that none of the donations had been used more than three times.

The fraud was detected when a local woman used a genetic testing kit made by the genomics company 23andMe and discovered that she was related to dozens of people who were related to Dr Cline.

Initially Dr Cline vehemently denied the allegations. In a letter he wrote to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office he stated: “I can emphatically say that at no time did I ever use my own sample for insemination,” and “in fact, if this woman is saying this or writing this I believe she is guilt of slander and/or libel.”

This was quickly shown to be false, and he now admits that he did donate. According to his lawyer, “Dr. Cline admitted to doing wrong by inseminating the women with his own sperm, but felt that he was helping women because they really wanted a baby. Also, he felt pressured to use his own sperm because he didn’t always have access to fresh sperm.”

Similar incidents have happened quite a few times before. Cecil Jacobson ran a Virginia fertility clinic and may have fathered 75 children in the 1970s and 80s. He was convicted of fraud and was sentenced to five years in jail. Dr Bertold Wiesner, who ran a fertility clinic in London, may have fathered up to 600 children in the 1940s and 50s. His wife destroyed most of the medical records.

- See more at: http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/indiana-fertility-doctor-accused-of-using-own-sperm/12013#sthash.9Pvysc2Q.dpuf

One of the recurring themes thrown up by assisted reproduction is the importance of genetic ties. Are we determined by our origins, or can we forge our own identity? Does it matter whether our nearest and dearest are our kith and kin or whether they are just the people we hang around with?

By chance I just stumbled across the astonishing story of a Hungarian politician whose life was transformed when he discovered his true genetic identity.

By the time Csanad Szegedi was 24, he was vice-president of Jobbik, a far-right, nationalist and virulently anti-Semitic party. He was elected to the European Parliament as a Jobbik MEP in 2009 and wrote a book, I Believe in Hungary’s Resurrection.

Then he learned his family’s deepest secret: he was a Jew. His grandfather and grandmother were actually Auschwitz survivors.

Szegedi’s life fell apart. He was forced to resign from Jobbik.

Suddenly he did a complete about-face. Under the tuition of a Lubavitch rabbi from New York who was living in Budapest he became an Orthodox, observant Jew; he had himself circumcised, adopted the name Dovid and burned a thousand copies of his book. Now he ismigrating to Israel with his wife and two children. He is interesting in joining the Knesset.

Szegedi is obviously a complex, intense man. He could even be a charlatan. But his astonishing journey does suggest that there is something to the idea that our personal identity is incomplete if it lacks the genetic heritage.