Man who donated sperm for research discovers 2 children conceived without consent

The man was given a DNA test through MyHeritage as a gift by his wife several years ago, but it unexpectedly revealed one significant match. At first he thought it was a child from a past relationship that he hadn’t known about, until a second match was revealed.

That person, Tom (not his real name), had registered with the database because he was looking for his biological father. Commercial databases compare users’ DNA profiles to find matches. The greater the match, the closer the users are genetically related. Tom sought contact and informed the man that he had been conceived using donor sperm.

When Tom didn’t receive an answer, he asked Steph Raeymaekers of the non-profit support organisation Donorkinderen to contact the man on his behalf. After VUB professor Robert Schoysman was mentioned, the 71-year-old realised what must have happened.

“He is very worried that the two children he has now found are only the tip of the iceberg,” says Raeymaekers. Between 1974 and 1979, when he was studying at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, he donated sperm four times a month, as part of a study by Schoysman on male fertility.

“He thought he was contributing to science and received some payment for it,” Raeymaekers says. “To find that people were conceived with his sperm against his will and without any knowledge is incredibly difficult for him to accept.” Students were paid 1,000 Belgian francs (€25) per donation

Schoysman, who has since died, was a pioneer of in vitro fertilisation and donor insemination in Belgium, but has previously come under scrutiny. Donorkinderen claims that, among other things, he helped conceive triplets by insemination with a mixture of two men’s sperm.

'Scandals are not exceptions'

The organisation is calling for an investigation and is concerned that many more students were misled. “We want the government to act because the scandals out there are no longer exceptions,” Raeymaekers says.

“How long did this professor do that? How many students were involved? How many parents and also donor children were affected by him? We need to find that out in order to correctly inform victims.”

Tom, 45, signed up to MyHeritage because he is a carrier of a genetic disorder. “There is a 50% chance that I inherited it from him,” he says. “I felt I should let him know that so that his other children can also get tested. For me personally, it’s a closed chapter. I have answers to my questions. But I think raising awareness in society is important. I realise there are still a lot of children who probably don’t know they are donor children.”

Although fertility centres and sperm banks retain donors’ personal details, they may not disclose them to prospective parents or children. Tom is in favour of lifting that anonymity, as is the case in the Netherlands, where children have the right to details of their donor father.

In a press release, the VUB said: "The facts quoted seem to date back to the early 1970s. At that time, reproductive medicine was still in its infancy. Neither the VUB nor the UZ Brussel are currently aware of any publications by Prof Schoysmans in the context of scientific research on sperm donors.

"VUB-UZ Brussel has strict procedures for donors and clearly communicates the reason why. A contract is signed with the sperm donor for each donation. Specific informed consent is required for use of sperm cells in the context of scientific research."