Dutch Hospital says gynecologist fathered at least 17 children without informing parents
A Dutch hospital said that a deceased gynaecologist fathered at least 17 children with women thinking they were receiving sperm from anonymous donors.
- World News
- 2 min read
A Dutch hospital, on October 6, said that a deceased gynaecologist fathered at least 17 children with women thinking they were receiving sperm from anonymous donors. According to De Stentor newspaper, Jan Wildschut worked from 1981 to 1993 at the fertility clinic of the former Sophia hospital, today known as Isala Hospital in the eastern Dutch city of Zwolle.
While describing gynaecologist’s actions as ‘morally unacceptable’, the medical centre informed that a total of 17 children are currently known, in addition to the legal children of Wildschut. Isala hospital said that Wildschut was involved in the hospital’s artificial insemination programme with donor sperm, called KID in Dutch.
It is still unknown where the gynaecologist sired more children, the hospital added. According to the local Dutch newspaper report, the hospital learnt about the news back in 2019 and then decided to make it public together with the doctor’s family and donor children in a bid to ‘contribute to greater transparency’ in the issue of sperm donation.
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Dutch officials decline to open probe
As per the report, the matter was first discovered when a donor child discovered a DNA match via a commercial database with a niece of Wildschut, who died back in 2019. A parent told the media outlet that they never suspected that Wildschut could have been the donor. They further added that the doctor gave a ‘friendly, committed and honest impression’.
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The Dutch Health and Youth Inspectorate have, however, declined to open a probe. The officials said that the case took place at a time when there were no laws or regulations governing fertility treatments. The recent incident is not the first, as back in 2019, the Netherlands was rocked by another scandal after it was revealed that another Dutch doctor in Rotterdam fathered at least 49 children while inseminating women seeking treatment.