A real "Who's yer daddy" dilemma

[SoCalDem]

Sperm donor fathers 150 offspring
Published: Sept. 6, 2011 at 8:04 AM
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/09/06/Sperm-donor-fathers-150-offspring/UPI-57041315310645/

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A Washington area social worker said she has learned the sperm donor used to conceive her son seven years ago fathered 150 other children.

Cynthia Daily, 48, told The New York Times in an article Tuesday she began a quest for her son's half-siblings by searching a Web-based registry for other children fathered by the same sperm donor. Daily said she set up an online group to track the children and today they number 150 -- with more on the way. Her story has prompted concern among parents, donors and medical experts about the potential negative consequences of having so many children fathered by the same donor.

Britain, France and Sweden limit how many children a sperm donor can father but there is no limit in the United States, only guidelines.

snip

[Lance_Boyle]

1. How does the donor's information get out?

Aren't there privacy regulations for this? Wouldn't HIPAA apply? Donor information coming out could be a nightmare for donors.

[SoCalDem]

2. Some places will reveal.. and donors probably have to agree to it

It's really creepy to have do many all in one area..

[pipi_k]

5. Yeah, I think it's creepy too...

Imagine half siblings meeting up and marrying and having children without knowing until it's too late.

I don't know about anyone else, but I would be absolutely traumatized by that. It was bad enough when I was doing my family tree a few years back and discovered my second (late) husband was likely a distant cousin on my father's side. We didn't have children, but it was still sort of creepy to me when I found out.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Their information doesn't need to

apart from the number of children conceived with their donor sperm. It's horrendously irresponsible for a fertility clinic to be using the same donor for so many fertilisations, honestly. And the public health implications should probably override any absolute secrecy (the chance for rare and recessive genetic disorders for instance should there be unwitting relationships between children of the same father).

[PADemD]

6. The donor could be identified by number.

[Ferret Annica]

3. Here's a picture of a meet-up of his kids as adults

[SoCalDem]

7. or something like this