Victoria Hill never quite understood how she could be so different from her father — in looks and in temperament.
The 39-year-old licensed clinical social worker from the US state of Connecticut used to joke that perhaps she was the mailman’s child.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Victoria Hill took a DNA test. The results were horrifying.
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Her joke eventually became no laughing matter.
Worried about a health issue, and puzzled because neither of her parents had suffered any of the symptoms, Hill purchased a DNA testing kit from 23andMe a few years ago and sent her DNA to the genomics company.
What should have been a routine quest to learn more about herself turned into a shocking revelation that she had many more siblings than just the brother she grew up with — the count now stands at 22.
Some of them reached out to her and dropped more bombshells: Hill’s biological father was not the man she grew up with but a fertility doctor who had been helping her mother conceive using donated sperm.
That doctor, Burton Caldwell, a sibling told her, had used his own sperm to inseminate her mother, allegedly without her consent.
But the most devastating revelation came when Hill found out one of her newly discovered siblings had been her high school boyfriend — one she says she easily could have married.
“I was traumatised by this,” Hill told CNN in an exclusive interview.
“Now I’m looking at pictures of people thinking, well, if he could be my sibling, anybody could be my sibling.”
Hill’s story appears to represent one of the most extreme cases to date of fertility fraud in which fertility doctors have misled their female patients and their families by secretly using their own sperm instead of that of a donor.
It also illustrates how these huge groups of siblings — made possible in part by a lack of regulation — can lead to a worst-case scenario coming to pass: accidental incest.
In this sense, Hill’s story is historic, according to advocates of new laws criminalising fertility fraud.
“This was the first time where we’ve had a confirmed case of someone actually dating, someone being intimate with, someone who was their half-sibling,” said Indiana University law professor Jody Madeira, an expert on fertility fraud.
A CNN investigation into fertility fraud nationwide found most states, including Connecticut, have no laws against it.
Victims of this form of deception face long odds getting any kind of recourse.
And doctors who are accused of it have an enormous advantage in court — meaning they rarely face consequences and, in some cases, have continued practising, according to documents and interviews with fertility experts, politicians, and several people fathered by sperm donors.
CNN also found Hill’s romantic relationship with her half-brother wasn’t the only case in which she or other people in her newly discovered sibling group had interacted with someone in their community who turned out to be a sibling.
At a time when do-it-yourself DNA kits are turning donor-conceived children into online sleuths about their own origins — and when this subset of the American population has reached an estimated one million people — Hill’s situation is a sign of the times.
She is part of a larger groundswell of donor-conceived people who in recent years have sought to expose practices in the fertility industry they say have caused them distress: huge sibling pods, unethical doctors, unreachable biological fathers, a lack of information about their biological family’s medical history.
The movement has been the main driver in getting about a dozen new state laws passed over the past four years.
Still, the legal landscape is patchy, and the US fertility industry is often referred to by critics as the “Wild West” for its dearth of regulation relative to other western countries.
“Nail salons are more regulated than the fertility industry,” said fertility law advocate Eve Wiley, who traced her origins to fertility fraud.
Accountability in short supply
More than 30 doctors around the US have been caught or accused of covertly using their own sperm to impregnate their patients, CNN has confirmed.
Advocates say they know of at least 80.
Accountability for the deception has been in short supply.
The near-absence of laws criminalising the practice of fertility fraud until recently means no doctors have yet been criminally charged for the behaviour.
In 2019, Indiana became the second state, more than 20 years after California, to pass a statute making fertility fraud a felony.
Even in civil cases that have been settled out of court, the affected families have typically signed non-disclosure agreements — effectively shielding the doctors from public scrutiny.
Marvin Yussman
Meanwhile, some doctors who have been found out were allowed to keep their medical licences.
In Kentucky, retired fertility doctor Marvin Yussman admitted using his own sperm to inseminate about half a dozen patients who at the time were unaware he was the donor.
One of them filed a complaint to the state’s board of medical licensure when her daughter — who was born in 1976 — learned Yussman was the likely father after submitting her DNA to Ancestry.com.
“I feel betrayed that Dr Yussman knowingly deceived me and my husband about the origin of the sperm he injected into my body,” the woman wrote in a letter to the board in 2019.
“Although I realise Dr Yussman did not break any laws as such, I certainly feel his actions were unconscionable and depraved.”
In his response to the medical board, Yussman said during that era fresh sperm was prioritised over frozen sperm, meaning donors had to arrive on a schedule.
“On very rare occasions when the donor did not show and no frozen specimen was available, I used my own sperm if I otherwise would have been an appropriate donor: appropriate blood type, race, physical characteristics,” Yussman wrote.
He added some of his biological children have “expressed gratitude for their existence” to him and even sent him photos of their own children.
Yussman, who noted in his defence that he didn’t remember the woman who made the complaint, said his policy decades ago was to inform patients that physicians could be among the possible donors — though neither he nor the complainant could provide records that clarified the protocol.
The board declined to discipline him, citing insufficient evidence, according to case documents. When contacted by CNN, Yussman declined to comment.
Donald Cline
The story that really put fertility fraud on the national radar was that of Dr Donald Cline, who fathered at least 90 children in Indiana.
Cline’s case spurred politicians to pass legislation that outlawed fertility fraud but it wasn’t retroactive — meaning he was never prosecuted.
Cline was, however, convicted of obstruction of justice after lying to investigators in the state attorney general’s office who briefly looked into the case.
Following that conviction in 2018, Cline surrendered his licence. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Fertility fraud bill
Netflix followed up with a 2022 documentary about Cline that inspired two members of Congress — Oklahoma Republican Stephanie Bice and New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill — to co-author the first federal bill outlawing fertility fraud.
If passed, the Protecting Families From Fertility Fraud Act would establish a new federal sexual-assault crime for knowingly misrepresenting the nature or source of DNA used in assisted reproductive procedures and other fertility treatments.
The bill has found dozens of backers — 28 Republicans and 20 Democrats — amid a renewed effort to push it on Capitol Hill. A group of advocates, including Hill, is planning to go to DC to champion the bill.
Passage of the bill would not mean any of the dozens of doctors who have already been accused of fertility fraud would go to prison, as the crime would have occurred before the law existed.
But the measure would provide more pathways for civil litigation in such cases.
Unintended effects
The push to better regulate the fertility industry isn’t without critics.
It inspires unease — if not outright opposition — from some who fear any industry crackdown could have the unintended effect of making the formation of families less accessible to the LGBTQI community, which comprises an outsized share of the donor-recipient clientele.
“I think we should pause before creating additional criminal liability for people practising reproductive medicine,” Northeastern University assistant professor of law and health sciences Katherine L Kraschel said.
“It gives me great pause … to say we want the government to try to step in and regulate what amounts to a reproductive choice.”
Some experts also point out that the advent of take-at-home DNA tests by companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry has pretty much stamped out fertility fraud in the modern era.
“To my knowledge, the majority of fertility fraud cases took place before 2000,” Duke University Health System associate professor in psychiatry and OBGYN Julia T. Woodward said.
“I think it is highly unlikely any person would engage in such practices today — it would be too easy to be exposed. So this part of the landscape has improved significantly.”
Sending a message
But activists in the donor-conceived community still want laws, in part to provide pathways for civil litigation and also to send a message to any medical professional who might feel emboldened by the lack of accountability.
“Let’s say arguably that it doesn’t happen anymore,” said comedian Laura High, who was donor-conceived.
“Pass the f****** legislation just in case.”
High, with more than 600,000 followers on TikTok, has carved out something of a niche as a fertility-industry watchdog on social media.
“Why not, just out of the optics — just out of a, ‘Hey we’re going to stand by the victims’ — let’s just do this,” she said.
“We know it’s never going to happen anymore, but let’s just make this illegal.”
‘You are my sister’
The lack of a law in Connecticut appears to have been a stumbling block for a pair of siblings seeking recourse for what they allege is a case of fertility fraud.
The half-siblings — a sister and brother — sued OBGYN Narendra Tohan of New Britain in 2021, saying he deceived their mothers when using his own sperm in the fertility treatments.
He has derailed the suit with a novel defence, arguing successfully that it amounts to a “wrongful life” case — which typically pertains to people born with severe life-limiting conditions and isn’t recognised in Connecticut.
Tohan, who is still practising, did not return an email or call to his office seeking comment. The siblings are appealing the ruling.
Fertility fraud expert Madeira called the “wrongful life” decision absurd.
“In fertility fraud, no parent is saying that — no parent is saying I would have gotten an abortion,” she said.
“Every parent is saying, ‘I love my child. I just wish that my wishes would have been respected and my doctor wouldn’t have used his sperm’.”
Burton Caldwell
And then there is Dr Burton Caldwell, who declined CNN’s request for an interview.
One of his apparent biological children decided to sue him last year, even though she knows it will be an uphill battle without a fertility fraud law on the books.
Janine Pierson and her mother, Doreen, accuse Caldwell — who stopped practising in the early 2000s — of impregnating Doreen with his own sperm after having falsely told her the donor would be a Yale medical student.
Pierson, a social worker, thought she was an only child until she took a 23andMe test in the summer of 2022 and was floored to learn she had 19 siblings. That number has since grown to 22.
“It was like my entire life just came to this screeching halt,” she told CNN.
When she learned through one of her siblings that Caldwell was the likely father, Pierson said she immediately phoned her mother, who was stunned.
“We both just cried for a few minutes because it just felt like such a violation,” Pierson said.
Pierson said she decided to pursue the lawsuit even though she knows the lack of a fertility fraud law in Connecticut could pose a challenge.
“It shouldn’t just be, you know, the Wild West where these doctors can just do whatever it is that they want,” she said.
Victoria Hill is watching her newly discovered half-sister’s case closely.
For her, the first surprise was learning the dad she grew up with wasn’t her biological father.
Although her mother had told Hill when she was younger that she’d sought help conceiving at a fertility clinic, she also said — falsely — that the doctor had used her dad’s sperm.
When Hill learned a few years ago that her biological father appeared to be Caldwell, she contacted lawyers about filing a suit but was told she doesn’t have much of a case — so she didn’t pursue it.
Now, she said, her statute of limitations is about to expire.
Devastating discovery
Last year, Hill was hit with another shattering revelation.
In May, she and her three closest friends were celebrating their 20-year high school reunion over dinner.
She was telling them of how she learned about her biological father.
Everyone was captivated, except one person — her former boyfriend.
He looked like he was turning something over in his head. Then he noted that his parents, too, had sought help conceiving from a fertility clinic.
A couple of months later, as Hill was leaving for a summer vacation with her husband and two young children, the ex-boyfriend texted her a screenshot showing their 23andMe connection.
“You are my sister,” he said.
Lax fertility laws in US
Hill’s high school boyfriend isn’t the only person she knew in the community who turned out to be a sibling.
“I have slept with my half-sibling,” Hill said. “I went to elementary school with another.”
What’s more, Hill said, back in the early 2000s she lived across the street from a deli in Norwalk she often went to that was owned by twins, whom she later learned are her siblings.
Pierson, too, discovered recently she had crossed paths with a sibling long ago.
She has a group photo from when she was at summer camp that shows her on a stage and a boy in the audience. In 2022, she learned he is her older half-brother.
“Within 20 feet of one another, and we have no idea,” she said.
In general, the bigger the sibling pool, the greater the risk of accidental incest — regardless of whether fertility fraud came into play.
“I don’t date people my age — I can’t do it,” Jamie LeRose said.
The 23-year-old singer from New Jersey has at least 150 siblings from a regular sperm donor, not a doctor.
“I look at people my age and I’m automatically unattracted to them because I just, I go, ‘That could be my sibling’.”
Capping the numbers
Activists also often advocate for laws that cap the number of siblings per donor and do away with donor anonymity.
Neither of these restrictions is included in the proposed federal bill.
Other countries have instituted such regulations.
Norway, for instance, limits the number of children to eight and Germany to 15.
Germany and the UK have banished anonymity at sperm banks.
The US government has no such requirements — and the professional association that represents the fertility industry wants to keep it that way.
“What we have not done very much in this country is pass regulations about who gets to have children,” said American Society for Reproductive Medicine chief advocacy and policy officer Sean Tipton.
“If you’re going to say you should only be able to have 50 children, that’s fine. But that should apply to everybody.
“It shouldn’t apply just to sperm donors.”
Regarding the concern among donor-conceived people about accidental incest, Tipton added: “If you want to be sure before you have children with somebody, you can run DNA tests to make sure you’re not related.”
The ASRM, which often clashes with donor-conceived activists, has not taken a stance on the federal bill, Tipton told CNN.
The organisation does offer non-binding guidelines that address concerns about incest, recommending for instance no more than 25 births per donor in a population of 800,000.
Although most of the donor-conceived people who spoke with CNN said they wanted to see legislative change, they also described an emotional aspect of the topic that no new law or regulation could begin to quell: a yearning to better understand one’s origins and identity.
For Pierson, it was this desire, coupled with a mix of anger and curiosity, that compelled her to visit Caldwell unannounced one day in 2022 — weeks after she’d learned he was most likely her biological father.
Confronting Caldwell
“I woke up that day and I had decided I didn’t want to call him,” Pierson said.
“I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to say no. So I just drove directly to his house.”
Pierson, who lived in Cheshire at the time, describes an experience that was equal parts surreal and awkward.
After an hour-long trip, she pulled up to a large, stately house with a long driveway not far from the Connecticut coast.
When she knocked on the door, nobody answered. But when a neighbour stopped by to drop something off, Caldwell opened the door.
Seizing the moment, Pierson introduced herself. He let her in.
Laying eyes for the first time on her biological father, Pierson, 36, saw a man in his 80s with a slight tremor due to Parkinson’s.
He invited her inside and they sat at his dining room table.
Caldwell, she said, didn’t seem surprised — likely because Victoria Hill had made a similar visit a couple of years earlier.
“He was not in any way apologetic,” Pierson said, but she added he did not deny using his own sperm when working in the 1980s at a New Haven clinic.
She said Caldwell confessed that he “never gave it the thought he should have … that there would be so many (children), and that it would have any kind of an impact on us”.
Pierson said Caldwell asked her questions that gave her pause.
“One thing that really has always bothered me is he asked me how many grandchildren he had,” she said.
“And he was very curious about my scholastic achievements and what I made of myself … like how intelligent I was, basically.”
She said their conversation ended abruptly when, looking uncomfortable, Caldwell stood up — which she took as a signal that the visit was over.
Before parting ways, she asked if he would pose for a photo with her. He consented.
“I knew it would be the only time that I actually ever had that opportunity to take a picture,” she said.
“Not that I wanted a relationship with him in any way because — it was just like mixed emotions of, you know, I despise you but at the same time I’m grateful to be here.”
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