Podcast Review: The Gift – Fraud

When 84-year-old Peter received an at-home testing kit as a birthday present from his daughter, he not only discovered an unknown half-sister, but uncovered a 'scandal deep in the heart of Harley Street'.

This is episode one, entitled 'Fraud', of the BBC Radio 4 series 'The Gift', which covers stories of people who received at-home DNA tests as gifts and uncovered 'more than they ever dreamed of'.

With some great reveals, this is a captivating listen for anyone interested in the early days of assisted conception and anonymous sperm donation. This dramatic first episode follows the stories of Madeline and Val, who discovered as adults that they were not biologically related to the fathers they grew up with.

Growing up, Val suspected this might be the case, and shortly after her parents' deaths she discovered an old letter from a fertility clinic in their belongings. Searching for the clinic online, Val discovered a website where donor-conceived adults were trying to trace their donors.

Val expected her biological father to fit the profile of a typical anonymous donor from the time she was born in 1969; a medical student in his early 20s. This was prior to introduction of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, when sperm donation was anonymous and unregulated.

In contrast to Val's reaction, Madeline felt completely blindsided when she discovered shortly after her father's death that he was not her biological father. She was 'furious' at her parents and the clinic, and said of the doctors, 'you have got no right. Why did you think you could mess around creating life…'

This episode began to ring alarm bells and reminded me of recent cases where fertility doctors used their own sperm in 'donor' treatment: Dr Donald Cline in Indiana (see BioNews 998), Dr Marvin Yussman in Kentucky (see BioNews 1151), Dr Norman Barwin and Dr Michael Kiken from Canada (see BioNews 1004, 1064) and Dr Jan Karbaat and Dr Jos Beek from the Netherlands (see BioNews 996, 1150).

I was expecting this podcast to follow in a similar direction, and Val suspected the same in her initial search. Val discovered the clinic where she was conceived was closely linked with the Barton clinic established in the 1940s and run by Dr Bertold Wiesner and his wife Dr Mary Barton, where it was later discovered that Dr Wiesner's used his own sperm (see BioNews 652). Val began to suspect the doctor running the clinic where she was conceived could be her biological father.

After years of researching online and getting no answers, Madeline and Val did at-home DNA tests and uploaded their results online. Both found a 100 percent match for their biological fathers and were able to make contact.

They were shocked to discover that neither had donated sperm, but both men had provided sperm samples for testing at a fertility clinic after experiencing fertility issues, which were then used by the clinic without their consent.

Madeline's father was revealed to be Peter, who I mentioned in the first paragraph. They were eventually able to meet, which Madeline described as 'truly, truly awkward to be honest' as they were 'complete strangers'. It seemed that Madeline, in her anticipation and years of searching, had built up expectations of what it would mean to meet her 'father' and in practice found it slightly anticlimactic. Sadly, Val's story reached a different end, as her biological father died from COVID shortly before they were due to meet.

My favourite part of the episode was when the host, Jenny Kleeman, asked Peter and his wife how they felt about the revelation that the clinic used Peter's sperm without consent. Peter was remarkably unphased, and although he is clear that he never consented to donation, he said, 'It is a bit annoying, isn't it? I mean they could've asked but they didn't.'

I was surprised to hear that neither Peter or his wife were angry with the clinic for using his sperm, and were in fact happy to meet Madeline and her family. However, they did not consider each other 'family' based on the biological connection.

Ultimately, both Val and Madeline felt immensely grateful that their biological fathers had been gifted at-home DNA testing kits from family members. Finally being able to get the long-awaited answers about their origins seemed more meaningful to both Val and Madeline than necessarily establishing a relationship with their biological fathers.

Kleeman reminds us that the fertility clinic where Val was conceived closed decades ago, and that the treatment was legal at the time. Fertility treatment was often kept secret and these stories are a good example of how we are still discovering the consequences of early fertility treatments to this day. This topic is particularly timely as we approach the opening of the donor register, with the first people turning 18 this year able to find information about donors (see BioNews 1209).

I’d recommend this episode to anyone interested in finding out about the unexpected consequences of increasingly popular at-home DNA testing. I'll definitely be listening to more from this series.