Bryce Cleary, a physician in Portland, Oregon has filed a lawsuit against against the Oregon Health and Science University Sperm Donation Center after learning that he's fathered at least 17 children. According to the lawsuit, Cleary donated sperm in 1989 based on certain conditions, he claims that the agreement stipulated that his sperm would be used to father no more than five children, and that none of these children would be born in the state of Oregon. However, Cleary was contacted last year by two Oregon-born women who'd just learned they were sisters and that Cleary was their father. Since then, he's learned that his sperm was used to father at least 15 other children.
Cleary, who is now 53 with a family of his own, made the sperm donations when he was a first-year medical student and recalls that he was paid about $40 per donation. During a press conference, Dr. Bryce Cleary confirmed that he has filed a $5.25 million lawsuit against Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in an effort to force the OHSU fertility clinic to change its practices, stating "What's true is that this is a deception, and this was fraud," said Bryce Cleary. "I don't know if it continues today. As far as I can tell, they really don't have a lot of regulations. Fertility clinics just do what they want to do."
OHSU officials have had little to say about the case, but this statement was issued by spokeswoman Tamara Hargens-Bradley, "OHSU treats any allegation of misconduct with the gravity it deserves. In light of our patient privacy obligations and the confidentiality of protected health information, we cannot comment on this case."
Lawsuits of this nature are now coming to light because of services like AncestryDNA, and 23andMe.