Fertility doctor suspected of fathering 200 children will have DNA tested, court rules

2-16-2019 de gelijkenissen tussen donorkind marsha en spermadokter jan karbaat
Similarities between donor child Marsha and fertility doctor Jan Karbaat. Image credit: Marsha van der Schans

A fertility doctor suspected to have fathered scores of people by secretly swapping donors’ sperm for his own will have his DNA tested, after a Dutch court supported a legal challenge by 22 of his potential children.

The group were all conceived with the help of fertility doctor Jan Karbaat, who died in 2017 at the age of 89 and had long been suspected of using his own sperm to impregnate clients — a charge he denied.

But a court ruled [February 13] that Karbaat’s family must allow his DNA to be examined, after agreeing that there was sufficient evidence that he did use his own sperm.

DNA from Karbaat’s son, who is still alive, has already been found to hold a “relevant biological relationship” with 47 people the doctor helped conceive, and a documentary that aired in the Netherlands suggested Karbaat may have fathered up to 200 children.

The court also agreed that it is “undisputed that a number of donor children have similarities in appearance” to Karbaat.

Karbaat’s DNA has already been recovered, after a court backed a similar challenge in 2017 — but it has remained in a safe since then.

Read full, original post: Judge rules for testing DNA of a fertility doctor suspected of fathering up to 200 children

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