Canadian families who claim disgraced Ottawa fertility doctor Norman Barwin used the wrong sperm – or even his own sperm – in the conception of at least 100 children could receive a portion of a multi-million-dollar payout after a judge certified the class-action lawsuit launched in 2016.
A CBC News report notes that the Ontario Superior Court certified the class-action suit in the landmark case at a hearing last week, which includes a negotiated proposed settlement worth $13.375m. The class action has grown to 226 members, including former patients and children conceived through artificial insemination – 17 of whom have discovered Barwin is their biological father through DNA.
The lead plaintiffs, Dan and Davina Dixon, had sought Barwin's help to conceive a child together, with their daughter Rebecca born in 1990. Only in recent years did the family learn that Barwin, not Dan Dixon, is Rebecca's biological father. In 2019, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario stripped Barwin of his medical licence, finding he had committed professional misconduct by using his own sperm to inseminate several patients and using the wrong sperm with many others.
Barwin pleaded no contest at the time and was ordered to pay a fine of $10 730. The class-action agreement states the negotiated settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Barwin, who ‘has denied and continues to deny all of the plaintiffs' claims in this action’, according to the document certified.
The parties are expected to return to court in November.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Canadian doctor loses licence for using own sperm to inseminate patients
Dutch fertility doctor fathered 49 children without consent
Fertility doctor sued for secretly using his own sperm