-
Breach of contract. A civil thing not criminal.
Presumably as the Dr gave them information about the donor that matched what the patients sought rather than described himself, and so promised sperm that want delivered - whilst delivering his own.
Velocio-
I think I am with you in that this is quite clearly (i) unethical and (ii) breach of contract...
Punishment is being struck off and sued for damages but does it deserve prison time? -
At least in the UK, "it is a criminal offence for treatments that fall under HFEA law to be carried out in a non-licenced clinic"
from a HFEA statement in relation to this story from Belfast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60945418. I assume in this case the dude was appropriately licensed?Plus according to wiki, in this case:
"Because there was no law concerning the practice in Indiana, he was charged with obstruction of justice, false advertising, and immoral conduct, and lost his license to practice medicine. The first law in the United States came into effect in 2019 in the State of Indiana as a result of this case"
The Washington Post article goes into more detail: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/fertility-fraud-people-conceived-through-errors-misdeeds-in-the-industry-are-pressing-for-justice/2018/11/22/02550ab0-c81d-11e8-9b1c-a90f1daae309_story.html
NickCJ
rhowe
It's going to be hard to make this comment with sufficient nuance / sensitivity on a text medium, but what is the difference between using an anonymous donor and the doctor himself providing it? Just the ick factor?
Clearly the lack of disclosure is wrong, but that is a slightly separate issue (that doctors probably didn't think would ever come to light when doing this in the 70s and 80s).