Editor’s note: This article contains sexually graphic language.
A fertility doctor and former Harvard Medical School professor secretly impregnated a patient with his own sperm and told her it was from an anonymous donor, a former patient claims.
Former patient Sarah Depoian filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Dr. Merle Berger earlier this month. Depoian agreed to intrauterine insemination in 1980 after the doctor allegedly told her that he would use the sperm of a medical resident who resembled her husband.
As the Mayo Clinic explains, intrauterine insemination, also known as artificial insemination, is a process that increases the chances of pregnancy by placing sperm directly into the uterus.
Berger, a co-founder of one of the nation’s largest fertility clinics, Boston IVF, is accused of using his own sperm, with the lawsuit arguing that the doctor “violated Ms. Depoian” in doing so. The suit also claims Berger chose not to disclose this information to his patient.
“Dr. Berger’s misconduct was not a mistake: Rather, in order to engage in the actions discussed in this lawsuit, Dr. Berger needed to masturbate in his medical office, walk over to his patient while carrying his own sperm, and then deliberately insert that sperm into his patient’s body — all while knowing that she did not consent to his sperm entering her body,” the lawsuit stated.
Depoian gave birth to her daughter, Carolyn Bester, in January 1981. Earlier this year, Bester purchased a DNA kit to learn more about her family history, and, as a result, she eventually discovered that she was related to Berger. She told her mother about the results.
In 1983, Depoian approached the doctor again for assistance with having another child, and she asked if they could use the same donor that Berger had used for her first. The fertility doctor told the mother that he did not know the donor’s identity, a statement that the lawsuit described as a lie.
The complaint contended that Berger concealed his fraud to avoid a lawsuit. The doctor went on to found Boston IVF and became a “prominent” fertility doctor.
Berger also served professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School.
Boston IVF did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
Berger retired in 2020, according to Boston IVF’s social media page. The doctor’s lawyer said in a statement shared with media that the plaintiff’s allegations have “no legal of factual merit.”
“The allegations concern events from over 40 years ago, in the early days of artificial insemination,” the statement reads. “At a time before sperm banks and IVF, it was dramatically different from modern-day fertility treatment. The allegations, which have changed repeatedly in the six months since the plaintiff’s attorney first contacted Dr. Berger, have no legal or factual merit, and will be disproven in court.”
A spokesperson for Harvard Medical School told The Associated Press that Berger was affiliated with the medical school, however, his primary place of employment was with various Harvard-affiliated hospitals that are not owned or run by Harvard.
Jennifer Lahl, president of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, told The Christian Post that fertility doctors using their sperm to impregnate patients is not a new phenomenon, noting that this has happened before without the patients’ knowledge.
“This leaves the couple thinking they are raising their own biological child, only to discover years later what actually happened,” Lahl said. “With the advent of home DNA testing, the children produced from their mother’s physician’s sperm learn that the doctor is actually their biological father.”
“The physician’s first duty is to Do No Harm, but in this case, the lies and deceit produce harm to not only the woman and her husband but also to the child that was born of this unethical deed.”
As CP reported last year, a Netflix documentary titled “Our Father” told the story of Dr. Donald Cline, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based fertility doctor who secretly impregnated at least 50 women with his own sperm in the 1970s and 1980s. The documentary premiered on the streaming platform in May 2022.
The children Cline helped create eventually found one another through websites like Ancestry.com, which helped expose Cline. The documentary featured interviews with these genetic siblings.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
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