PORTLAND, Ore. — After a doctor filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Oregon Health and Science University Hospital alleging improper use of his sperm, it raised some questions about what rights donors have.
To get a better understanding of what men should expect before they donate, KGW spoke with attorney Robin Pope, who specializes in family formation law. Her practice focuses on matters relating to surrogacy, assisted reproductive technology, egg and sperm donations. She's practiced in that field for nearly 40 years.
She said when a man donates his sperm, he has the legal right to that until he signs a consent form giving away his right to own it. That consent form can vary state to state, and also depends on the clinic. Once you donate, you lose all your rights as a parent according to an Oregon statute.
Pope said that if you think you're going to remain anonymous in this day and age, think again.
"For people to expect that there will be confidentiality when you can spit into a cup or swab, your cheek, whatever, and send that off to a lab and they are able to tell you by gosh you've got 17+ children, confidentiality is out the window. I'm not sure even if everyone agreed to it at the time whether or not that would be enforceable," she said.
In the lawsuit, Dr. Bryce Cleary said he agreed OHSU could only use his sperm for five babies. But at least 17 were born. Of the 17 children born that he knows of, most, if not all, were born in Oregon. So, will your sperm stay in the state in which it's donated?
"Yes, typically it would stay here, be cryopreserved here," Pope said. "There are issues with shipping. I mean, this is pragmatic. If you ship it, you risk having it thaw and then be useless. So if you use it locally, right where it is, it's most likely staying usable over a period of time."
Then there's the question about regulations. Are their regulations that could keep something like what happened to Dr. Cleary from happening? Two lawyers KGW talked with said no.
"Whether you're in Oregon or California or New York or Indiana, or wherever; as a donor, you should try and understand what your rights and your obligations are and what you are going to be giving up by donating that sperm," Pope said. "It will vary state by state, and within each state, it will most likely vary clinic by clinic. It varies on whether the donor has asked to be anonymous or known."