Donald Cline, a retired fertility doctor from Indianapolis is facing felony charges for using his own sperm 50 times and impregnating at least eight women , CBS News is reporting. The 77-year-old, who is suspected of fathering at least eight children, pleaded not guilty to misleading authorities after four of his adult children filed complaints against him.
Doubts over Donald Cline’s unethical conduct began in 2014, when a woman from Indiana who took at DNA test found out she had seven siblings. After she investigated further, she found out that all the women had been artificially inseminated at Cline’s clinic back in the 1970’s.
The woman had told her story to a local news station which helped connect her to seven other siblings. Two others had carried out investigations of their own and found out that their mothers were also patients of Donald Cline and linked their ancestry back to 70 the former doctor’s relatives.
Donald Cline, Indianapolis fertility doctor, used own sperm to impregnate women: Affidavit https://t.co/TBUz2iXZ0H pic.twitter.com/IWDCzp5JKp
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) September 13, 2016
The former fertility doctor had told his patients they were getting sperm from medical students and that no donor’s sperm would be used more than three times. However, a court affidavit revealed that Cline used his own sperm whenever he did not have donor sperm available and believed “he was helping women because they really wanted a baby.”
Four siblings had petitioned the Indiana Attorney General’s Office asking for Donald Cline to be investigated over claims of using his own sperm to father children. The fertility doctor, who retired in 2009, persistently denied ever using his sperm, accusing those who petitioned him of slander and libel.
“I can emphatically say that at no time did I ever use my own sample for insemination… I followed suggested guidelines of the period. I did nothing morally or legally wrong.”
Early this year, Donald Cline met one of his accusers and admitted using his sperm at least eight times. He told a reporter later that he used his sperm 10 times. Three months later, Cline changed his story after sitting down with six offspring and said he used his sperm at least 50 times. According to an affidavit, the 77-year-old man said he “felt pressured to use his sperm because he didn’t always have fresh sperm.”
In July, Cline was paternally matched to two siblings who accused him with probabilities of 99.9997 percent and 99.998 percent. It is unclear at this point if the other siblings have been tested. Donald Cline confessed that if he knew DNA testing would come so far, he would not have doled out his sperm to patients.
Former fertility Dr. Donald Cline- accused of using his own sperm on patients-leaves court facing 2 criminal charges pic.twitter.com/xUrvTRNZpI
— Jesse Wells (@JesseWellsNews) September 12, 2016
The results led to the felony charges brought before Cline because he had previously presented fake documents to authorities with intent to mislead them when they were investigating the case. Donald Cline had told also told authorities that records pertaining to the case had been destroyed in line with a state law which required doctors to only keep records for seven years after the last treatment.
One of the siblings showed her displeasure for Cline’s misconduct saying since he ran his practice into his 70s, they would never know how many children he recklessly fathered. She added there was also the risk of related siblings getting married or having sex with one another.
“I am outraged by this clear breach of ethics in the field of medicine … it was unethical what he did. He was telling his patients one thing and doing another. I want to find out as much truth as I can but deep down … we will never know the complete truth.”
A slew of websites helped the siblings born in the late 70s through to the mid 80s piece together their story. The siblings used Ancestry.com and 23andMe.com to research and test DNA. They also turned to Donor Offspring, Parent and Sibling Registry to search for genetic relatives.
Donald Cline was released on his own recognizance and is scheduled to appear in court again October 17.
[Photo by iStock]
