A Canadian judge is expected to approve a proposed C$13.375m (£7.707m) class-action settlement for hundreds of victims of disgraced fertility doctor Norman Barwin, who used his own sperm to inseminate patients without their consent. The settlement, the first of its kind in the world, was certified by an Ontario court on Wednesday.
Barwin, once a highly sought-after fertility specialist nicknamed 'Baby God' and awarded the Order of Canada, is alleged to have told couples he would use the male partner's sperm but instead used random samples, including his own. Patients were not informed of the errors, leaving them to discover the truth about their children's paternity years later.
One victim, Rebecca Dixon, learned at age 25 that Barwin was her biological father after her parents grew suspicious when she did not resemble them and developed celiac disease, which no one else in the family had. Barwin refused to provide a DNA sample, but the Dixons matched Rebecca's DNA with another of Barwin's patients. 'I was in shock. Something inside me shifted. It made me feel like my existence was something to be ashamed of,' Dixon told the Ottawa Citizen in 2019.
Under the proposed settlement, former patients and children conceived through Barwin's methods will be eligible for up to C$50,000 (£29,000) in damages. The settlement also calls for a DNA database to help children identify their biological father or discover siblings, and to help men who stored sperm with Barwin determine if it was used without permission.
Barwin was suspended by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 2013 after admitting to inseminating four women with the wrong sperm, and resigned his medical licence in 2014. In 2019, the college deemed him incompetent, describing his behaviour as 'beyond reprehensible' and stating the damage would last for generations. He was ordered to pay costs of C$10,370.
