A Dutch court will allow DNA testing of the late Jan Karbaat's personal belongings. The fertility clinic doctor had been accused of fathering children with his own sperm:
A Dutch court has approved a request by families seeking DNA tests on the belongings of a late fertility clinic doctor accused of using his own sperm in dozens of cases. Jan Karbaat is suspected of fathering about 60 children at the centre he ran in Bijdorp, near Rotterdam. Tests will now be conducted on items seized from his home after his death in April, at the age of 89.
A lawyer for his family said there was no evidence to support the claims. Jan Karbaat called himself "a pioneer in the field of fertilisation".
Ethics! Also at DW.
"Related": IVF Error May Have Affected 26 Dutch Women (separate incident)
Related Stories
The University Medical Centre (UMC) in Utrecht, Netherlands is investigating the possibility that an error has led to 26 women's eggs being fertilized by the "wrong" sperm:
A Dutch medical institution has launched an investigation after discovering that up to 26 women's eggs may have been fertilised by the wrong sperm at its IVF laboratory.
A "procedural error" between mid-April 2015 and mid-November 2016 during the in-vitro fertilisation was to blame, the University Medical Centre in Utrecht said. "During fertilisation, sperm cells from one treatment couple may have ended up with the egg cells of 26 other couples," said a statement. "Therefore there's a chance that the egg cells have been fertilised by sperm other than that of the intended father."
Although the chance of that happening was small the possibility "could not be excluded", said the centre.
Woman can use donor sperm in IVF without estranged husband's consent, court rules
A Victorian woman will not need her estranged husband's permission to undergo IVF using donor sperm following a ruling by the federal court in Melbourne. The court heard that the woman, who cannot be named, has been separated and living apart from her husband since late 2017. The woman wanted to try to conceive through IVF using donor sperm, but was told by a Melbourne reproductive clinic that under Victoria's Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act she first needed her husband's consent.
The matter was urgent because the woman is 45 and patients are generally only able to use their own eggs in an IVF procedure when they are younger than 46. The woman said she recently underwent a procedure to collect her eggs and freeze them for later use after she was divorced, but was told the prospect of a successful pregnancy using frozen eggs was lower than IVF using fresh eggs. The clinic told her that with her husband's consent, she could begin a round of treatment later in September.
[...] Under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act, there is a guiding principle that "the welfare and interests of persons born or to be born as a result of treatment procedures are paramount". But the court heard that this should not justify requiring the consent of a former partner who, without such consent, would have no responsibility for the child anyway.
Federal court Justice John Griffiths ordered that the woman could undergo IVF without consent and that the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act discriminated against her on the basis of her marital status. He declared that part of the law "invalid and inoperable". In his judgment published on Friday, Griffiths said nothing in his ruling was intended to harm the reputation of the woman's estranged husband and that the decision would not directly affect his legal rights, and that he would not be imputed with any parental rights, obligations or responsibilities.
See also: Parents likely to block girlfriend's attempt to access sperm from dead son (2016)
Related: Bioethicist Recommends Freezing Sperm to Lessen Genetic Risks
Divorced Couple Fighting in Court over Frozen Embryos
Medical Ethics of Multiples, Surrogacy, and Abortion
Deceased Dutch Fertility Clinic Doctor's Belongings to be DNA Tested
Japanese Man Granted Paternity Rights to 13 Children Born to Surrogate Mothers
(Score: 4, Informative) by FakeBeldin on Saturday June 03 2017, @07:04PM (3 children)
From Auntie Beep:
So: one of his acknowledged, legitimate children appears (by DNA testing) to have 19 half-brother/sisters. It's not exactly clear how it the initial suspicion was raised (some talk about resemblance, which sounds like shaky grounds for a suspicion), but once it was raised, it led to this test.
But a DNA test which shows that 19 people born after IVF treatment were his children.... that's slightly more than "no evidence".
The Grauniad [theguardian.com] has some more details on it.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday June 03 2017, @10:21PM (2 children)
So did the family rush this geezer into the oven upon his death so as to avoid lawsuits or something?
Why are they taking DNA from his possessions, is the body gone?
If his son is a half sibling to 19 other kids Its pretty clear those 19 kids didn't have the same mother.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @11:06PM (1 child)
He can still bang them right? That wouldn't be counted against him.
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Monday June 05 2017, @08:44AM
Though news reports are light on details, as far as I can tell the 19 kids were all conceived IVF - so without banging, and unclear whose sperm was used. From the Guardian's article:
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:39PM (2 children)
Small correction for TFS: Blijdorp, not Bijdorp.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:58PM (1 child)
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijdorp [wikipedia.org] ?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday June 04 2017, @11:01AM
Ah, I see. I looked it up and it appears that the clinic's name was "Bijdorp", which isn't a city but the name of a district in the city of Barendrecht where it was located. That's why I never heard of it and assumed that it would be Blijdorp.
Blijdorp is also a district, but in Rotterdam. With a famous zoo 'Blijdorp', only a couple of miles from district Bijdorp in Barendrecht...
So it wasn't a typo, but someone mistook Bijdorp to be the name of a "city near Rotterdam", which isn't correct.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:43PM
L&O S5E15
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629413/ [imdb.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday June 04 2017, @03:42AM (2 children)
the fertility clinic owner was some ugly old bald guy. I saw an editorial cartoon that depicted a bunch of ugly old bald kids.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @05:38AM (1 child)
The guy was a doctor.
That is the type of person that women like getting sperm from.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday June 05 2017, @03:52PM
Unless they are getting sperm from their husband, after failing to conceive naturally.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?