OTTAWA: Three Canadian families are suing a sperm bank and its distributor for passing off a convicted felon diagnosed with multiple mental disorders as a genius, while providing sperm from him. At least 36 women in Britain, Canada and the United States are believed to have been inseminated with the donor’s sperm over the past decade, resulting in pregnancies.
“It is horrifying... These couples were seeking assistance to build a family and were very vulnerable. They put their faith in the (cryobank) industry, and this happens,” lawyer James Fireman said on Friday. In a claim filed by them, the families alleged that Xytex Corporation, based in the US state of Georgia, and Ontario’s Outreach Health Services misled them.
The plaintiffs are seeking Can$15 million ($11.7 million) in damages. None of the allegations have been proven in court. They alleged that the companies fabricated the donor’s IQ, and claimed that the man was extremely healthy and working towards a PhD in neuroscience engineering. The families — each had one child using the man’s sperm — learned his true identity only when Xytex inadvertently included his contact information in an e-mail to them.
A quick Internet search and a subsequent investigation revealed the donor was actually a 39-year-old man from Georgia, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorder, druginduced psychotic disorder and significant grandiose delusions. He had been jailed for burglary and other crimes and dropped out of university 20 years ago, although he eventually returned and last year graduated with a bachelor’s degree. According to the claim, the companies continued to sell his sperm, even after being informed of the discrepancies in 2014.