Doctor Accuses Fertility Clinic of Using His Sperm to Father 17 Kids

A doctor in Corvallis, Oregon, is suing a fertility clinic for allegedly using his sperm to conceive 17 children that he did not know about.

Bryce Cleary, 53, who made sperm donations to the Oregon Health & Science University 30 years ago when he was a young medical student, said the clinic breached an agreement that only allowed up to five children to be conceived.

However, in March of 2018, two sisters who had submitted their DNA to Ancestry.com in hopes of identifying their biological father contacted Cleary about their results.

He then submitted his own DNA to the website and discovered that he was the father of both the girls and at least 15 other individuals also born in Oregon.

“There were four instant matches and the odds of that happening is not very reasonable,” Cleary said. “And it was not long after that someone contacted me through that site and I realized they had been conceived locally and it was kind of that point that I knew something was really wrong.”

Additionally, the $5.25 million lawsuit alleges that the OHSU’s fertility clinic failed to ensure that all the children conceived would be born outside of Oregon and the East Coast to avoid any chances that they might meet or become romantically involved.

“The idea that you can produce that many children from one donor and throw them all in the same region? There has got to be some reforms,” Cleary said during a press conference on Wednesday. “I can’t control an industry, but I can sure stand up and say, ‘This isn’t cool.'”

At the press conference, Cleary sat next to his biological daughter, Allysen Allee, who said she believes OHSU did not take their role seriously at the time.

“It feels like OHSU really didn’t take into consideration the fact that they were creating humans. They were reckless with this. It feels like this was just numbers and money to them,” she concluded.

OHSU said in a statement that it “treats any allegation of misconduct with the gravity it deserves,” but refused to comment any further on the case because of patient privacy concerns.

Cleary, who is a husband and father to three biological sons and one adopted daughter, said he knows he has no legal obligations toward the 17 individuals, but noted that he is overwhelmed by the moral and ethical obligations he feels towards them.

“I can’t be emotionally invested in all of these people,” he said. “And it’s been very difficult.”