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Former UCSF fertility physician accused of impregnating affected person

Former UCSF fertility physician accused of impregnating affected person
December 30, 2023



A Seattle fertility doctor has surrendered his medical license after facing accusations that he used his own sperm to impregnate a California woman while he was treating her as a fellow at UCSF 15 years ago.A Seattle fertility physician has surrendered his scientific license after dealing with accusations that he used his personal sperm to impregnate a California girl whilst he used to be treating her as a fellow at UCSF 15 years in the past.IVAN COURONNE/AFP by means of Getty ImagesA Seattle fertility physician has surrendered his scientific license after dealing with an accusation that he used his personal sperm to artificially inseminate a California girl whilst he used to be treating her as a fellow at UCSF 14 years in the past.The allegation, made public previous this month, triggered UCSF to ship letters to ladies handled by means of the physician advising them of the placement and providing genetic checking out for their very own households.Christopher Herndon voluntarily gave up his Washington state scientific license on Nov. 29, after resigning in September from the College of Washington, the place he specialised in reproductive medication since 2017. He does now not have an lively scientific license in California.AdvertisementArticle continues beneath this adUCSF officers mentioned they realized he had surrendered his license and of the allegation in opposition to him on Dec. 1, and started contacting former sufferers Dec. 7. The college has employed an outdoor regulation company to habits an investigation into Herndon, which is ongoing.Herndon used to be a fellow at UCSF concerned with reproductive endocrinology and fertility all through 2008-11, in step with the college. He used to be a part-time physician at San Francisco Common Medical institution in 2011-14, and in addition in personal apply all through that point, in step with UCSF.“The movements Dr. Herndon is accused of include inexcusable and we’re exploring all felony choices in opposition to him, together with possible civil and prison movements,” UCSF mentioned in a remark Friday.Herndon’s case used to be first reported Dec. 5 by means of the Seattle Instances; his association with UCSF used to be now not made public at the moment.The allegation used to be reported remaining summer season to the Washington Clinical Fee. After its personal investigation, the fee made up our minds that Herndon will have to give up his license. Herndon agreed to surrender the license however didn’t admit to the allegation.AdvertisementArticle continues beneath this adAccording to the previous affected person’s allegation, which used to be summarized in a document from the fee, Herndon used to be operating as a scientific fellow in coaching in California when she used to be handled by means of him in November 2009.The girl had up to now used donor sperm for synthetic insemination to turn out to be pregnant along with her first kid, in step with the scientific fee. She’d come to UCSF for a similar process for a 2d kid, and asked the similar donor sperm.The girl become pregnant, and her 2d kid used to be born in 2010, in step with the fee. Later, DNA checking out confirmed that her two kids didn’t proportion paternal DNA — they didn’t have the similar organic father. Additional checking out discovered that the second one kid used to be now not born from the sperm donor the affected person had decided on for either one of her kids.The girl then signed up her 2d kid with a genetic checking out and ancestry carrier. That carrier known a possible circle of relatives reference to the remaining title Herndon, in step with the scientific fee. The genetic fit used to be 25%, that means the individual used to be a grandparent or aunt or uncle. The girl employed a non-public investigator, who ultimately decided the individual she’d discovered on-line used to be a sibling of Herndon — her kid’s organic uncle or aunt.Herndon “changed the donor sperm” selected by means of the girl along with his personal sperm for the bogus insemination process, with out the girl’s “wisdom or consent,” the scientific fee mentioned. “This used to be a practical violation of the accept as true with positioned in (Herndon) as a health care provider which had a profound have an effect on at the affected person and the affected person’s circle of relatives.”AdvertisementArticle continues beneath this adOfficials with the UW Medication healthcare device in Washington mentioned they have got no proof of beside the point conduct whilst Herndon labored there, however they have been additionally alerting former sufferers and providing unfastened genetic checking out to ladies who underwent synthetic insemination procedures.“In line with what we all know right now, the safeguards in position at UW Medication’s scientific facilities will have to save you an incident like the only purported to have took place in California in 2009,” college spokesperson Barbara Clements mentioned in a remark Friday. The college has in position “a lot of safeguards” together with “a couple of identification exams, cautious chain of custody practices, and separate labs for egg and sperm specimens,” she mentioned.“We’re reviewing our safeguards and procedures to proceed to verify the perfect stage of specimen safety. We don’t imagine that our sufferers have been in danger.”Herndon is a graduate of Yale Faculty of Medication who did his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Boston’s Brigham and Ladies’s Medical institution, which is affiliated with Harvard College. Herndon may just now not be positioned for remark. The girl who made the allegations has now not been known.Megan Heller, who underwent fertility procedures at UCSF on the time Herndon used to be there,  mentioned she gained a letter from UCSF informing her of the placement on Wednesday. She mentioned the college has introduced her unfastened counseling, checking out for sexually transmitted infections and genetic checking out for her circle of relatives.AdvertisementArticle continues beneath this adHerndon had carried out synthetic insemination procedures on Heller, now 43, that didn’t lead to being pregnant. She later utilized in vitro fertilization, during which eggs are fertilized in a lab and the embryos inserted within the uterus, to turn out to be pregnant. Herndon used to be indirectly concerned within the IVF procedures, Heller mentioned, regardless that he would nonetheless had been at UCSF on the time.“I didn’t get pregnant from the ones explicit procedures (Herndon carried out), however I did pass directly to have IVF at UCSF, beneath the similar attending (physician), with the similar crew of guys, and I did get pregnant,” Heller mentioned. “I used to be subconscious and sedated for such a lot of procedures. I don’t know if (Herndon) used to be within the room. I don’t know what position he performed all through his tenure.”Her son is now 12, and Heller mentioned she plans to make use of the genetic checking out introduced by means of UCSF.So-called fertility fraud, and particularly instances of docs the usage of their very own sperm to impregnate sufferers, has been a troubling facet of reproductive medication since synthetic insemination took off greater than 50 years in the past.The apply has turn out to be extra well known lately with the popular accessibility of genetic checking out. In lots of instances, folks have signed up for checking out out of interest simplest to seek out that their paternal DNA isn’t what they anticipated.AdvertisementArticle continues beneath this adDonor Deceived, a web site that tracks such instances, has known 9 docs accused of the usage of their very own sperm to artificially inseminate sufferers in California, leading to 18 pregnancies, some relationship again to the Seventies. One Indianapolis physician used his sperm to impregnate dozens of ladies within the Seventies and ’80s and is the organic father of greater than 90 kids.“There are such a large amount of unknowns. How did this even occur?” Heller mentioned. “I’m horrified to think about how sloppy protocols will have to had been for this to have took place. And who’s to mention how again and again it took place?”Succeed in Erin Allday: eallday@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @erinallday

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