Shocking allegations have emerged against a Boston fertility doctor who is now being sued for using his own sperm to impregnate a patient in the 1980s. The ethical breach has raised a lot of questions in the field of reproductive medicine since the accused Dr. Merle Berger is a key figure as the co-founder of Boston IVF as well as being a former Harvard Medical School professor. Let’s explore the case in detail, analyze similar lawsuits and legal implications.
Allegations against Dr. Merle Berger, explained
In her lawsuit, Maine resident Sarah Depoian claims that the Boston fertility doctor secretly used his own sperm to impregnate her during fertility treatment. The incident happened 40 years ago without her consent and the family discovered this fact during a casual online Ancestry check.
According to the lawsuit, Dr. Berger had assured that he would use an anonymous medical resident’s sperm, who specifically resembled Ms. Depoian’s husband. However, the doctor’s claims seem to be false as he used his own sperm during the intrauterine insemination procedure.
Now, the retired Boston fertility doctor’s legal team has denied these accusations. In their statement, they call the Harvard-recognized Dr. Berger a reputed pioneer in the fertility field. Furthermore, the alleged events happened 40 years ago when such treatments were different from today’s practices.
Cases similar to this incident
Sadly, this case is not an isolated incident as many other IVF doctors have been accused of using their own sperm without the patient’s consent. Most notably, Indiana-based Dr. Donald Cline had inseminated dozens leading to nearly 94 doctor-conceived offspring from his sperm, as seen in the Netflix documentary, ‘Our Father’.
There’s a documentary on Netflix called Our Father, where a fertility doctor did the same thing. Madness https://t.co/yG8ylvyiLM
— Mike (@mike_adama) December 14, 2023
Dr. Cline was merely suspended for a year for lying about using his own sperm. The lenient punishment is a direct result of the lack of proper framework that governs the field of fertility and reproductive medicine in the United States. Especially in Indiana, there was no law that said IVF doctors should not use their own sperm.
Similarly, in 2022, a federal court jury in Vermont awarded $5.25 million to a woman impregnated with a doctor’s own sperm during artificial insemination in 1977. More recently, New York-based Dr. Morris Wortman faced accusations of using his own sperm to impregnate several patients.
Legal implications in the Boston fertility doctor lawsuit
The victim Sarah Depoian’s legal team has to walk a tightrope when it comes to proceedings in the courtroom. The main reason for this is the statute of limitations in the United States which addresses complex legal considerations due to the passage of time – over 40 years in this case.
In what plaintiff Sarah Depoian called “an extreme violation,” Dr. Merle Berger, an OBGYN professor at Harvard and founder of Boston IVF, one of the nation’s largest fertility clinics, is accused of inseminating her with his own sperm. https://t.co/4awJtVXt7l
— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) December 13, 2023
Furthermore, it also boils down to confirming through DNA testing whether Dr. Merle Berger is indeed the biological father of Sarah Depoian’s daughter. If proven guilty, the Boston fertility doctor will face charges related to fraud, intentional misrepresentation and violation of consumer protection laws and medical ethics.
Despite the elapsed time, it is still possible for Dr. Berger to be held accountable for his actions. When the case goes to trial, the verdict will set a new precedent for similar unethical incidents in IVF treatments.
