Sam Amico
Longtime Massachusetts doctor Merle Berger is being sued by a former patient who accused him of “surreptitiously” inserting his sperm into her — rather than using that of a donor as she underwent an In vitro fertilization treatment.
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The lawsuit alleges that the incident took place more than 40 years ago.
Per Boston 25 News:
“Dr. Merle Berger, who has homes in Boston and on Martha’s Vineyard, ‘covered up his egregious misconduct’ and ‘took steps to prevent’ Sarah Depoian, of Cumberland County, Maine, from filing legal claims against him following the alleged incident in 1980, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Massachusetts.
“Depoian and her husband visited Beger for assistance with conceiving a child because Depoian husband’s sperm couldn’t be used, and Berger ‘promised to perform an insemination using the sperm of a medical resident who resembled her husband,’ the lawsuit indicated.”
The suit states that the victim didn’t realize that Berger used his own sperm, as opposed to the promised resident.
“Depoian, like all patients, had a right to know what was being inserted into her body,” the suit states. “She also had a right to refuse the insertion of sperm into her body to which she did not consent. She also had a right to refuse the insertion of sperm into her body to which she did not consent.
“Berger’s misconduct was not a mistake: Rather, to engage in the actions discussed in this lawsuit, Berger needed to masturbate in his medical office, walk over to his patient while carrying his sperm, and then deliberately insert that sperm into his patient’s body — all while knowing that she did not consent to his sperm entering her body.”
Boston 25 News added:
Berger went on to become a prominent fertility doctor, launching one of the nation’s largest fertility clinics, Boston IVF. He was also an associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School.
Depoian’s 42-year-old daughter, Carolyn Bester, purchased a DNA kit from Ancestry.com and 23andME.com in late 2022 to learn more about her family history, but the results that were sent to her in early 2023 didn’t yield a direct result for the biological father, according to the lawsuit.
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/mass-doctor-surreptitiously-inserted-his-own-sperm-into-insemination-patient-lawsuit-alleges/KGC4OPLWPVG2VN6O5CZIDALCHQ/
