A fourth Dutch doctor has now been accused of using his own sperm for fertility treatments offered to his patients. Between 1977 and 1985, Henk Nagel fathered a child without the knowledge or consent of his patient. There are potentially more children from his practice that haven’t yet been located. Just recently, a third scandal of this type came to light and it was termed to be only “the tip of the iceberg” where this issue was concerned. On the heels of that statement, this fourth doctor has now been identified and located.

Dr. Nagel’s actions have been called incomprehensible by the chairman of the hospital’s management board. An investigation is currently taking place to see if there were any other children fathered by Nagel. Dutch law was changed in 2004 to give donor-conceived children over the age of 16 the right to find out the identity of their biological parents. Anonymous donations were banned at that time, and all donors are registered. Their identities are released only in specific circumstances.

A DNA test recently showed a match between a man trying to find his biological parents and relatives of Dr. Nagel, who is retired. When confronted, he admitted to using his own sperm in at least three other occasions. It’s not clear whether children were born from those treatments. His argument was that it helped the parents with their dreams of having a child, and that he wouldn’t have made that choice later on.

The three other Dutch doctors were found to have fathered numerous children, all born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and all while telling the parents the sperm came from an anonymous donor. One of the doctors accused of this practice died in 2019, and the other two are still living. One fathered at least 17 children, while another fathered at least 21, and the third one is estimated to have fathered between 49 and 80 children at his practice.

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