A Canadian fertility doctor has agreed to a settlement where he will pay $10 million for allegedly impregnating female patients using his own sperm without the knowledge of the victims.
A law firm representing at least one of the families announced the large-scale settlement on Wednesday during a virtual hearing. At the event, Nelligan Law, the representing law firm, called the settlement "groundbreaking."
Fertility Doctor's Wrongdoings
The law firm issued a press release revealing 17 people who found out that the suspect, Dr. Norman Barwin, was the biological father of their children through DNA testing. The families sought the law firm's help in addressing the issue and the case. While about 80 other victims did now know the identity of the males whose sperm was given to them, they alleged Barwin did not use the one he was supposed to use in their conception.
When an attorney for Barwin was asked regarding the incident on Friday, he refused to comment about the case. The suspect has denied all allegations against him and despite agreeing to the settlement, he did not admit to his fault. Barwin allegedly accepted the settlement to avoid wasting any more money and time on the case, NBC News reported.
Part of the settlement would go to funding efforts to create a genetic database that would assist the other children to identify their biological parents. Rebecca Dixon, one of the 17 children conceived when Barwin used his own sperm, said she was not sure if they would ever achieve closure.
Dixon discovered that Barwin was her biological father after a doctor suggested DNA testing to figure out why she had brown eyes compared to her parents' blue eyes. The scientific phenomena were considered to be very rare.
In an interview, Dixon said the fact would remain with the victims for the rest of their lives. However, she noted that the legal part of the case would at least give the children a bit more peace regarding their situation, CBS News reported.
$10 Million Settlement
The victim's father said that his world was turned upside down after hearing about the news of the incident. He acknowledged that the young girl was his child but also not his child. The father noted everything was different after knowing about the truth of the crime.
The investigations into the incident have been ongoing since 2016, and Barwin was stripped of his medical license in 2019. While giving the victims access to identifying their biological fathers, the case would also give them their medical history so they could find out if they have medical conditions or genetic disorders to identify potential half-siblings.
After the announcement of the lawsuit, many other families claimed that Barwin was the father of their children. Authorities said that between 1973 and 2012, the suspect impregnated nearly 500 female patients who later gave birth to their children. Dixon's lawyer, Peter Cronyn, said the number of claimants involved in the case could still go up as the days go by, Daily Caller reported.
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