A Canadian fertility doctor’s license was revoked on Tuesday for having over decades used the wrong sperm, including his own, to inseminate patients.
Bernard Norman Barwin’s behavior was deemed “appalling” and “reprehensible” by a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario disciplinary panel, which also fined him C$10,000 (US$7,598).
“You betrayed [your patients’] trust and by your actions deeply affected individuals and their families and caused irreparable damage that will span generations,” the medical regulator said in its decision.
The 80-year-old doctor did not appear at the hearing, but through his lawyers pleaded no contest.
Barwin had already given up his medical license in 2014 after being disciplined in a prior case for artificially inseminating three women with the wrong sperm, which he at the time blamed on simple errors.
By now revoking his license, other medical regulators would be alerted if he seeks to practice medicine in other jurisdictions.
Barwin is also facing a lawsuit alleging 50 to 100 births with the wrong sperm, including 11 cases in which he used his own.
His misconduct came to light after one of the children born through insemination became curious about her genetic background and researched her family tree, and another was diagnosed with celiac disease, which is genetic. Neither parent has the disease.
Rebecca Dixon said that she learned three years ago at age 25 that Barwin was her biological father, telling the hearing that she felt “repulsed” and “contaminated.”
“In that moment, my life changed forever,” she said in a victim impact statement. “For a while I felt dissociated with my own face, as if the person looking back at me in the mirror wasn’t fully me anymore.”
“My mum had to work through the fact that something had happened to her body without her knowing, or giving her permission,” she added.
“I find myself looking for people who look like me, who could be half-siblings,” Dixon said.
So far, she said that she has found 15 half-siblings and expects the number to grow.
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