There is an interesting case out of Harvard where OBGYN professor and founder of Boston IVF, Dr. Merle Berger, is being sued for allegedly inseminating a woman with his own sperm. It is reminiscent of the case of Dr. Donald Cline who was accused of impregnating dozens of women with his own sperm.
The complaint below alleged three counts (Intentional misrepresentation – fraud; Fraudulent Concealment; Violation of Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law).
The interesting omission is battery in light of the lack of consent for using his own sperm as well as other possible tort claims. There is also an omission of contractual claims. The reason may be the running of the statute of limitations. The birth of plaintiff Sarah Depoian’s child, Carolyn Bester, occurred in 1981.
Depoian and her husband went to receive the treatment in 1980 and Berger allegedly promised “to perform an insemination using the sperm of a medical resident who resembled her husband, who did not know her, and whom she did not know. With that understanding, Ms. Depoian consented to the insemination.”
Later Bester, 42, used a home DNA test earlier this year and found that Dr. Berger was her biological father.
If true, that test could remove a critical factual dispute. There appears no consent for Berger to use his own sperm and the DNA would make the allegation factually unassailable. That would place greater importance on threshold claims given the passage of time as well as damages discussed below. Dr. Berger could also claim that the source of the sperm was not guaranteed or clearly laid out.
What was interesting was this paragraph which objected that things might have been different if the violation was known at the time . . . for Berger:
“Dr. Berger’s life would have been entirely different had he admitted his assault on Ms. Depoian at the time. Dr. Berger went on to become one of the country’s most prominent fertility doctors. He founded one of the nation’s largest fertility clinics, Boston IVF, and was an Associate Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. He should have known better—and, in fact, did know better—than to abuse his patient, Sarah Depoian, as described in this Complaint.”
The passage of time in bringing the Complaint is a fascinating complication, but there is also the question of damages if Berger is found liable. This is how the injuries are alleged:
“Ms. Depoian was greatly injured as a result of Dr. Berger’s unfair and deceptive conduct. 64. Learning of Dr. Berger’s deception was and is greatly traumatic for Ms. Depoian. She has suffered significant mental anguish, anxiety, stress from physical violations, sleep disturbances including nightmares, and difficulty in her marital relations. She suffers mistrust of the medical profession. There are days when she is so overwhelmed with anguish, stress and anxiety, that she is unable to function normally.”
Calculating the damages on such a basis could be challenging. After all, many people pay to have doctors or accomplished individuals as donors. Here the donor was supposed to be a medical resident but instead was an actual Harvard doctor and professor. However, the couple sought the specific physical attributes of the resident. There is also the injury associated with the deception itself.
Depoian is asking for double or treble damages allowed under law for these claims.
Here is the complaint: Depoian Complaint
By his duplicitous act the doctor put his patient at a tangible risk of having a deceitful child, grandchild, or both. While not nearly as horrific a risk as passing along the genes of a rapist, it was a risk to which his patient gave no consent.
Her reaction is more like she just found out that her father was not her biological father. The doctor is a convenient (and probably wealthy) scapegoat to vent the betrayal by her parents (i.e., not telling her).
No matter what the loss, no matter what the hurt, no matter what the offense, a little dough-re-mi, or sometimes triple, will sooth what ails you.
“Here the donor was supposed to be a medical resident but instead was an actual Harvard doctor and professor. However, the couple sought the specific physical attributes of the resident. There is also the injury associated with the deception itself.”
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Yep they wanted integrity and look what they got – a Hardvard Professor. Worst of all possible worlds.
Harvard: Searching for ways to spread fraudulent seed since 1636.
Normally, it is the woman who knows who is the father of her child. Marriage is based, in large part, on giving the man assurances that he would be providing for his progeny. With IVF, it seems that all bets are off for the woman.
I don’t understand any of the claimed anguish upon discovery of the biological father. Assuming it was the Harvard MD, then that seems like a pretty good DNA source – assuming a lack of genetic medical deficiencies – depending on the physical similarities between the MD and the husband. What seems to be missing from this is an assessment of the similarity – or not as the case may be – between the MD and husband and a comparison with the other potential choices.
When I read the headline I got nervous. I didn’t realize you could be sued just for inseminating someone.
I’d have more charges than Trump!
The good news is cadavers usually can not talk.
Harvard University use to have the best professors. Especially Professor Timothy Leary at Harvard University’s Department of Psychology.
In 1963, Leary was terminated for failing to attend scheduled class lectures, though he maintained that he had met his teaching obligations. The decision to dismiss him may have been influenced by his promotion of psychedelic drug use among Harvard students and faculty. The drugs were legal at the time.
They also had Tom Lehrer in the math department with tenure. His “colleagues” seemed to resent his success in his sideline as a satirical comedian. One of his hits is particularly appropriate given the current contretemps regarding a certain Harvard president and accusations of plagiarism. Take a look at the following YouTube video of Lehrer performing “Lobachevsky” also known as “Plagiarize”. youtube dot com/watch?v=IL4vWJbwmqM
You educated types using your fancy 5-syllable words (in-sem-in-a-tion). Just say the Professor-doctor knocked the girl up!
@Samuel Delaney: RE:”Just say the Professor-doctor knocked the girl up!” Correction…that’s ‘artificial knocking up.’
It’s harvard…what else would you expect. A culture of self-centeredness coupled by a lack of moral core. DO NOT send your children to this school.
Pork em if ya gottem!
I’m surprised that “Lack of Informed Consent” was not also included. The lack of battery was noted but the charge of lack of informed consent is strange since that is almost always included with such a procedure mishap. It’s mentioned in the discussion. Even for 1981 the consent was pretty sparse and vague. With the consent being no more specific than it was, I would wander if he was planning on inseminating his own sperm from the very start. Intent is questionable but certainly will be a point of argument. Procedures require explicit descriptions of the procedure and the risks involved.
Battery should have been included. That basically was what he did. The child could have been Taylor Swift and worth millions but it was still battery, if not medically sanctioned rape.
The medical profession is totally built on knowledge, expertise and above all TRUST. No trust, no patients, no livelihood and you cause a level of distrust in all of physicians as a result. Talking and listening to your patients and then actually delivering the needed care is a long and painstaking journey, that most physicians most learn with experience and time. It’s common to be arrogant as a young physician when you are at your most highly trained point in your life but humanity and empathy can temper that arrogance until experience finely makes the empathy and sympathy an intrinsic part of your personality. You stop being a Doctor and become a Physician. Similar words but miles apart in context.
“There are days when she is so overwhelmed with anguish, stress and anxiety that she is unable to function normally.” That’s what Joe Biden does to me. Do I get to sue?
To paraphrase Hahhhhhhvard Prez Claudine Gay, it depends on the context, which Professor Turley ignored.
This chick is on a fishing expedition.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/12/13/boston-area-fertility-doctor-sued-allegedly-secretly-impregnated-woman/
Speaking to reporters, Bester said she learned the truth about her parentage earlier this year, after purchasing DNA testing kits from Ancestry.com and 23andMe. Among her DNA matches were Berger’s granddaughter and second cousin, she said.
If only attorneys in OJ Simpson’s murder case had used such bulletproof methodologies
“I spoke to one of them, and I started piecing it all together,” Bester said. “To say I was shocked when I figured this out would be an extreme understatement. It feels like reality has shifted.”
SMH. Considering the intellectual discoveries and help the IVF physician has provided to Americans, clearly Ms Bester is intellectually delayed. Blame her mother, that or a dirty test tube.
Berger’s lawyer, Ian Pinta of Todd & Weld, disputed the lawsuit’s claims in a statement on the doctor’s behalf: “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.”
imagine that
I wonder how many other women he impregnated with his sperm over the past 40 years? I read once that tens of millions of Asians today are direct descendants of Genghas Khan. He impregnated so many women of the societies he conquered.
Knowing who the father is, she should abort on the grounds that the pregnancy is guaranteed to yield a blithering idiot.
How does one “abort” a 42-year-old?
@Anonymous: RE:”How does one “abort” a 42-year-old?” My bad….’should have’ Curious as to why this blithering idiot was motivated to learn of her parentage. Her birth certificate would show the Depoians as her parents. The Ancestry search effectively violates the confidentiality clauses which are generally incorporated in agreements for those services.
… there are no damages. a healthy, attractive, (intelligent?), daughter. 42 years of happiness … this is no more traumatic than finding out that there is no Santa Claus!
She has another suit pending for that