BOSTON — A former professor at Harvard Medical School and founder of one of the nation’s largest fertility clinics is being accused of secretly impregnating a patient in 1980 after promising the sperm would come from an anonymous donor, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Sarah Depoian, 73, said she and her husband first went to Dr. Merle Berger, now-retired professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology, in 1979 to discuss intrauterine insemination. Depoian said Berger told her the sperm would come from an anonymous donor “who resembled her husband, who did not know her, and whom she did not know,” according to the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The artificial insemination that Berger performed resulted in a successful pregnancy, and Depoian’s daughter, Carolyn Bester, was born in January 1981. Earlier this year, Bester conducted a home DNA test and discovered Berger was her biological father, according to the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for Harvard Medical School said Berger was academically affiliated with the medical school, but his primary place of employment was at various Harvard-affiliated hospitals, which the school does not own or operate.
Adam Wolf, a lawyer representing Depoian, said Berger clearly knew that what he was doing was wrong.
“Some people call this horrific act medical rape, but regardless of what you call it, Dr. Berger’s heinous and intentional misconduct is unethical, unacceptable and unlawful,” Wolf told reporters Wednesday.
Ian Pinta, a lawyer representing Berger, described him as a pioneer in the medical fertility field who in 50 years of practice helped thousands of families fulfill their dreams of having a child.
“The allegations concern events from over 40 years ago, in the early days of artificial insemination,” Pinta said in a written statement. “The allegations, which have changed repeatedly in the six months since the plaintiff’s attorney…
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