Norman Barwin was one of the most celebrated fertility doctors in Canada. Revelations in 2016 that he was the biological father of two of his patients' children made headlines. But that sensational news has overshadowed other improprieties at his clinic. There were many.
Two years ago, I broke the story that Norman Barwin was the biological father of two of his patients' children. You can see links to those stories at the very end. But less has been said about the many other people affected by what happened at his clinic.
"The majority of people contacting us fall into these other categories," says Frances Shapiro Munn, at Nelligan O'Brien Payne, the firm leading the lawsuit against Barwin. "The implications and fallout are just as severe for these people as for those conceived through Barwin's sperm." Some 150 people now have claims in the class action. Many more have been in touch.
Below I list the many ways in which people have been affected.
Among the wronged
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, who had children they believed were their biological children, who learned the children were from a sperm donor
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, who had children they believed were their biological children, who learned the children were conceived with someone else’s sperm, not yet identified
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, who had children they believed were their biological children, who learned the children were the biological children of another patient in Barwin's clinic
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, who had children they believed were their biological children, who learned the children were the biological children of Barwin
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, who had children they believed were their biological children, who learned that one of their children was their biological child and another was conceived with someone else’s sperm
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, who had multiple children they believed were their biological children, who learned the children were each conceived using sperm from different men
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin prior to infertility-inducing cancer treatment, who had children they believed were their biological children, who learned they were not biologically related
Men who deposited sperm with Barwin, whose sperm was used to father children in other people's families
Women who had multiple children, whose children were to be full siblings, with the same sperm donor, whose children were found not to have the same sperm donor
Women who were in a same-sex relationship, who each carried a child, whose children's only biological connection to each other would be through the sperm donor, but whose children do not have the same sperm donor
Women who were to be inseminated with sperm from a specified donor, who were inseminated with someone else's sperm, not yet identified
Women who were to be inseminated by their husband's sperm, but who were inseminated with someone else's sperm, not yet identified
Women who were to be inseminated by their husband’s sperm, but who were inseminated with a sperm donor’s sperm
Women who were to be inseminated by their husband’s sperm, but who were inseminated with another patient’s sperm
Women who had two offspring who were to be conceived with their husbands' sperm, who discovered only one was conceived with the husband’s sperm, the other conceived with someone else’s sperm
Women who were to be inseminated with sperm from a specified sperm donor, but who were inseminated with Barwin's sperm
Women who were to be inseminated with their husband's sperm, but who were inseminated with Barwin's sperm
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using specified donor sperm, but who found out they were conceived using sperm from another donor, now identified
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using specified donor sperm, but who found out they were conceived using someone else’s sperm, not yet identified
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using specified donor sperm, but who found out they were conceived using the sperm of another patient in Barwin's clinic
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using specified donor sperm, but who found out they were conceived using Barwin's sperm
Offspring who grew up believing they were full siblings, conceived with the same donor sperm, who found out they were conceived with different sperm
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using their father's sperm, who grew up believing their father was their biological father, who have found out that they were conceived using a donor's sperm
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using their father's sperm, who grew up believing their father was their biological father, who do not yet know who their biological father is
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using their father's sperm, who grew up believing their father was their biological father, who have found out that they were conceived using the sperm of another patient in Barwin's clinic
Offspring who were supposed to be conceived using their father’s sperm, who grew up believing their father was their biological father, who have found out they were conceived using Barwin’s sperm
Offspring who grew up believing they were half-siblings, connected through their sperm donor, who found out they were conceived with different sperm
Offspring who grew up believing they were full siblings, conceived using the same donor sperm, who found out that their biological fathers are different, and one of them is Barwin
Offspring who grew up believing they were full siblings and that their father was their biological father, who found out only one of them is the biological child of their father and the other does not know who their biological father is
More about the class action here: https://nelliganlaw.ca/class-actions/dr-barwin/
Peter Cronyn, Frances Shapiro Munn
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Lawsuit claims fertility doctor used his own sperm to inseminate patients
Globe and Mail, 02 Nov 2016
And that's why everything is different
CBC radio, The Current, 02 Nov 2016
Uncommon ancestry
Hazlitt, 07 Mar 2017
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