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Indiana Court of Appeals sends fertility doctor deception case back to the lower courts

By Madelyn Hanes, Indiana Capital Chronicle

Posted May 22, 2025

Indiana’s Court of Appeals will decide next steps for a woman who seeks to sue a former fertility doctor who was later found to have secretly used his own semen to impregnate her mother. (Courtesy of state of Indiana)

An Indiana woman who wants to sue the doctor who allegedly used his own sperm to inseminate her mother won an appellate ruling last week.

The Indiana Court of Appeals on May 15 granted the woman’s wishes to allow the case to move forward at the local level. The court ruled that the issue of whether the woman – referred to as “anonymous child” – filed her claim within the two-year statute of limitations period is an issue to be resolved by a jury.

“We find that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to when Child learned of facts that would have led a person of reasonable diligence to have discovered the malpractice,” Judge Elaine Brown wrote.

Opposing counsel contended during oral arguments that the woman was aware of the physician’s role as her parents’ fertility doctor prior to the birth of her own daughter in 2019. They said the statute of limitations for the woman’s claims should have commenced no later than the end of 2021.

But the woman argued she didn’t know the doctor used his semen in cases where semen was already provided — as her mother and father had.

When that news hit the media, she ordered a DNA testing kit in 2022 and filed suit shortly thereafter.

The woman was born in 1985. She learned of her biological father, referred to as the “anonymous physician”, following her viewing of the trailer for the 2022 Netflix documentary “Our Father”.

The Netflix documentary revealed the medical malpractice case of Dr. Donald Cline, former Indianapolis fertility specialist, who admitted in 2017 to using his own sperm to inseminate patients without their knowledge during the 1970s and 1980s. Although Cline is referred to as “anonymous physician” in the legal proceedings, attorneys discussed the documentary in arguments.

The woman preferred to keep her identity hidden “because her father – does not know that he is not her father.”

In July 2022, shortly after receiving her DNA test, the woman filed an anonymous complaint for damages against Cline and an anonymous health care group.

The case will now proceed before the local trial court, and could ultimately be decided by a jury.

Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.