With the recent surge in DNA testing services such as 23andMe, it has become increasingly easy to find long-lost or previously unknown relatives. Finding out who’s your father can be a joyous occasion or . . . perhaps not. 

There have been several reported cases of “serial donors” who have provided their sperm to would-be mothers who did not want to go through the usual procedures. One such man, in England, boasted that he has fathered over 500 children throughout the world, and finds most of his “customers” on facebook. His goal is to father at least a 1,000 children. He makes no profit from his “activity,” so one should question what he gains, and perhaps ask about any mental issues driving this avocation. 

Although not explicitly illegal, the potential legal and emotional problems are largely unknown. As one observer noted with regard to the English case: “But if you strip it down to bare facts, you have a man who for whatever reason feels they need to impregnate over 500 women, you have women who are comfortable knowing their children have 500 half siblings, in another setting people would be appalled. They would ask questions, find it very disturbing.”

Some of those legal questions may be answered in a recent lawsuit. A New Jersey mother has sued her former physician, claiming that he used his own sperm to impregnate her in 1983. The doctor, in a private fertility clinic in New York City, said that he was using sperm from approved sources, but according to the plaintiff, he was actually using his own. 

The plaintiff claims this was discovered when her daughter used a 23andMe DNA kit, which showed that the physician was her father. The plaintiff contends that this has caused great emotional distress to her daughter and her grandson. She noted that “they will have to know and live with the fact that their father and grandfather is a medical rapist.” 

The law firm representing her said that there are thousands of such “fertility fraud cases” in which doctors secretly inserted their own sperm during fertility treatments. Most of the cases, the firm noted, occurred between the late 1970s and 1990. At that time, DNA testing was barely on the horizon. 

This case, and others that may be brought, raise perplexing questions about damages. How damaging is it to find out that a doctor who was treating your mother is in fact your biological father, as opposed to a nameless individual about which you may very little. Stay tuned, because these issues apparently are not going away.