Fertility-Doctor Fathers 17 in Netherland

Hague: A gynaecologist in Netherland has been found to have fathered 17 children other than his legal off-springs.

Dr Jan Wildschut, a gynaecologist at Isala Fertility centre situated in the city of Zwolle has been unveiled as the biological father of 17 children, whose mothers had approached the hospital for fertility treatments. The mothers were under the false impression that the semen used were from undisclosed donors, but ended up belonging to the gynaecologist himself.

A recent DNA test undergone by one of the children revealed this startling fact when his DNA was similar to that of the daughter-in-law of Dr Wildschut. According to Dutch law, such children above the age of 16 can undergo a DNA mapping in order to find the identity of their biological fathers.

The hospital in a press release said that "Dr Wildschut who worked with them from the year 1981-1993 was the man behind this and finds it completely unacceptable from a moral standpoint that a gynaecologist-fertility doctor was both a practitioner and a sperm donor". The doctor passed away in the year 2009 due to cardiac disease. Dutch authorities have started an inquiry to find out if the said doctor has fathered more children during the same period.

The Dutch Health and Youth Inspectorate has declined the need for an investigation stating the fact that the incidents occurred at a time when there were no laws with regards to fertility treatments. According to a law passed in 2004, a person is allowed to donate to as much as 25 different people. This is not a new occurrence in the country. In a similar incident, a doctor from a fertility clinic in Rotterdam was reported last year to have fathered many children after he donated his semen to at least 49 individuals.

(This report was prepared by Adil Noushad based on Madhyamam Malayalam news)