A Canadian fertility doctor accused of using his own sperm samples to impregnate at least 17 patients will pay his victims millions of dollars in damages.
Norman Barwin, a respected doctor once know as a "baby whisperer", was facing a lawsuit in the Ottawa Supreme Court.
While he's denied the allegations, his medical license was revoked in 2019.
There were more than 200 victims in total, with 17 children identified as being conceived by the sperm of Dr Barwin. Other families helped by him still don't know who the biological fathers are.
All of Dr Barwin's victims will split $13.3 million (NZ$15.2m) in damages from the Supreme Court settlement, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Despite the settlement Dr Barwin, now 82, "has denied and continues to deny all of the Plaintiffs' claims", according to a court document seen by The Washington Post.
One victim, Rebecca Dixon, found out Dr Barwin was her biological father after a DNA test in 2016. Her parents, Daniel and Davina, were Dr Barwin's patients in the late 1980s and, until 2016, thought Daniel was Rebecca's biological father, The Post reported.
After the discovery, Rebecca met a woman who was also conceived at Dr Barwin's practice. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed they were half-sisters.
The Dixon family then launched the lawsuit, which identified another 15 children conceived with the sperm of Dr Barwin. One of their lawyers, Peter Cronyn, said Dr Barwin's actions had "upended" families.
"There is no amount of money that will be able to compensate for this, but because of the fact that they are receiving some compensation it is our hope that will help them get some closure and move forward," Cronyn told the Ottawa Citizen.
