Lab technician at Dutch clinic accused of using own sperm

A worker at a fertility clinic in the Netherlands substituted his own sperm in patient treatments, resulting in at least 11 children.

The laboratory technician, who was not registered as a sperm donor, was employed at the fertility clinic Stichting Medisch Centrum voor Geboorteregeling (SMCG) in Leiden. He used his own sperm to impregnate women patients between 1979 and 1985.

The findings, along with the previous cases of Dr Jan Kaarbat (see BioNews 996) and Dr Jos Beek (see 1131) in the Netherlands have prompted calls for DNA tests to back up clinic records: 'What we see so far is the tip of the iceberg' said Ties van der Meer, chairman of Stichting Donorkind, a charity supporting donor-concieved people. 'We know that files and archives are not in order at many other hospitals.'

The laboratory technician's actions were discovered after two people who believed they were half-siblings sharing a sperm donor checked the international DNA database MyHeritage. It transpired that they were not related, but one shared a donor with two other people who had tracked down the laboratory worker from SMCG in 2017. All three of their mothers had been treated at SMCG in Leiden, and the laboratory worker subsequently admitted to putting his own sperm into samples labelled under the names of registered donors.

The Medisch Centrum Kinderwens (MCK), which took over SMCG in 2008 and controls the former clinic's archives, is leading an investigation. They have said that laboratory technician is still alive but refusing to co-operate.

Further complicating matters, the laboratory worker was diagnosed with a genetic condition in 2015. The MCK is now trying to reach women who were treated at the clinic, possible descendants of the man, and former clinic employees.

Although not a life-threatening disease, 'it is a genetic abnormality that is passed on to the next generation in 50 percent of cases' said Dr Arne van Heusden, director of MCK. 'People simply have the right to know this.'

Causing further uncertainty, the sperm bank at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) has been unable to identify sperm donors for 80 out of 1141 children conceived between 1977 and 2004. It also discovered that nine donors fathered over 400 children, which goes over the 25 children per donor limit in the Netherlands.

'It may be that all other sperm banks had everything in order in detail, but I would not be surprised if more questions arise,' said Martin Schalij, member of the LUMC's board of directors who is urging all other fertility clinics to investigate their records.