Latest news with #Nieuwsuur
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
More than 1,200 mothers and 900 children impacted by Dutch fertility scandal
A popular Dutch fertility clinic used sperm from dozens of donors far more than the 25 permitted times for over a decade, affecting hundreds of children and mothers. One of the Netherlands' largest fertility clinics, Medisch Centrum Kinderwens (MCK), used sperm from at least 36 donors many more times than permitted between 2006 and 2017, Dutch news outlet Nos reported, affecting more than 900 mothers and 1,200 children. Dutch youth minister Vincent Karremans said it was an 'appalling' case which would understandably lead to anger and questions from those affected. 'They are now confronted with the news that their children belong to a larger kinship network than they had expected or wanted. The children appear to have more half-brothers or -sisters than thought,' he said in response to questions from Nos. 'And the donors appear to have more offspring than they themselves thought. I can imagine that this can have a major impact on each of them.' In April, Nos's current affairs programme Nieuwsuur shocked the Netherlands when it revealed that Dutch fertility clinic practices had resulted in at least 85 mass donors. A mass donor is someone who has more than 25 offspring, which was the maximum limit permitted by the country's professional association of gynaecologists until 2018, when the limit was reduced to a maximum of 12 families per donor. MCK confirmed it had 36 mass donors, and blamed previous management for ignoring the guidelines. In a statement to Nos, MCK director Wouter van Inzen blamed the number of mass donors on a donor shortage and high demand from mothers, as well as the 'desire for multiple children from the same donor within one family'. Current management took over in 2015 and ended the practice in 2017, but Mr van Inzen said the clinic decided not to approach the donors and parents involved in the issue 'in consultation with the professional group'. The Donorkind Foundation, an advocacy group, said: 'Prospective parents are nothing more than paying customers, donors are a kind of raw material and donor children nothing more than products'. Priamos, the sperm donors' association, said the clinic's actions were "irresponsible and unscrupulous". Donors were asked from 2006 whether they wanted to donate for 25 families, rather than 25 children, and their contracts allowed a certain number of children to be conceived in other countries. Priamos said while those contracts were in breach of the rules, all the donors the association spoke to thought donating to 25 families was permitted. 'We are not aware of any donor who was made aware that the rules were being violated. Donors do not need to know the rules either. They can assume that they will be treated fairly by the clinic,' the association told Nos.
The Guardian
14-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Medical calamity': dozens of Dutch sperm donors fathered at least 25 children
At least 85 sperm donors in the Netherlands have fathered 25 or more children, the national gynaecology and obstetrics organisation has said, after a new registration system showed fertility clinics have been breaking existing rules on sperm donation for decades. The NVOG said on Monday that some clinics had deliberately used sperm batches more than 25 times, exchanged sperm without the necessary paperwork or donors' knowledge, and allowed the same donors to donate sperm at multiple clinics. 'The number of so-called 'mass donors' should be zero,' gynaecologist Marieke Schoonenberg told the TV show Nieuwsuur. 'On behalf of the whole profession, we wish to apologise. We didn't do things as they should have been done.' A law aimed at reducing the risk of involuntary incest and inbreeding should have barred donors from fathering more than 25 children in the Netherlands since 1992, but proved difficult to enforce until because of strict privacy laws. The limit was lowered to 12 in 2018, but the means to enforce it – a national register of donors and mothers with a code system ensuring sperm from the same donor cannot be used in more than 12 conceptions – came into force, retroactively, only in April. 'As a result, we now know, for the first time, the exact number of children per donor,' Schoonenberg said. Since 2004, when donors' right to anonymity was lifted, the data showed there had been at least 85 'mass donors' (defined as at least 25 conceptions) in the Netherlands, she said. Most were biological father to between 26 and 40 children, Schoonenberg said, although several had between 50 and 75. Among them were at least 10 fertility doctors, including Jan Karbaat, who illegally fathered at least 81 children at his clinic. The most prolific donor was Jonathan Jacob Meijer, the subject of the Netflix documentary The Man with 1,000 Kids, who is known to have fathered at least 550 children worldwide. More than 100 of Meijer's children were conceived in Dutch clinics. Ties van der Meer, of Stichting Donorkind, a foundation that helps children trace their donor fathers, said the findings were a 'medical calamity'. The data meant there were probably at least 3,000 children in the Netherlands with 25 or more half-brothers and sisters, he said. 'The harm done to people's trust in the medical system, and in the governments that allowed all this to happen, is just the beginning,' van der Meer said, adding that both children and some of the donors would inevitably suffer more stress. In a small, densely populated country such as the Netherlands, the children concerned were also likely to encounter more practical problems as they grew older, he said. 'Once they start a dating someone, they're going to have to do DNA tests to make they're not going out with a close relation,' van der Meer said. He said it was essential that everyone involved was given all available information. The NVOG urged mothers, donors and children to contact their fertility clinics. The Dutch health ministry has said it will brief MPs on the findings this week.
