Fertility Fraud

CRIMES IN REPRODUCTIVE medicine that entail embezzlement from sperm banks or the theft of human eggs and embryos—once imagined only in science-fiction or mystery novels—have become a disturbing reality. Rumors of “egg-snatching” have been intimated since the development of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure.

Robert Edwards, who in 1978 was responsible for the first successful “test-tube” baby, allegedly used eggs without the consent of donors. The field of reproductive medicine has become replete with accusations of malpractice and insurance fraud, due in part, to unprecedented technological and fiscal[Page 316] growth. The estimated $2-billion-a-year industry has outpaced regulations and legislations. Procedures for infertile couples have come under legal and professional scrutiny as bizarre scenarios have emerged involving human sperm, eggs, and embryos.

Fraud or negligence can occur at any stage of the in vitro fertilization process, including in laboratory procedures.

Crimes involving the misuse of sperm and eggs have occurred throughout the world. A fertility doctor in Italy faced criminal charges after he impregnated women without their consent with strangers' sperm. Speculations also abound that the doctor may have created “hundreds or thousands” of half-siblings by using sperm from only two donors. Another fertility doctor admitted that during his medical residency at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he used his own sperm for donations that resulted in 33 pregnancies, despite professional mandates that limit sperm donations to 10 recipients. The “egg hunt” involved a group of doctors in Massachusetts that allegedly took hundreds of eggs from women receiving medical care without fully informed consent.

Cecil Jacobson, a noted Virginia physician and medical pioneer, received national attention after reports emerged that he used his own sperm to inseminate women—without their consent. The self-proclaimed “baby maker” also used hormone treatments to convince women that they were pregnant only to report a few weeks later that the fetus had died. Jacobson may have fathered as many as 70 children over the course of 12 years. In 1992, he was convicted of 52 felony counts of fraud and received a five-year prison sentence.

Many infants born as a result of fraudulent fertilization may never know their true genetic heritage.