Netflix's Our Father Tells The True Story of a Fertility Doctor Who Used His Own Sperm on Patients. During the 1970s and '80s, a fertility specialist in Indiana named Dr. Donald Cline inseminated dozens of patients with his own sperm, without their knowledge or consent.
Our Father is an American Netflix original documentary film directed by Lucie Jourdan and produced by Michael Petrella and Jason Blum. Its story follows former Indianapolis based fertility doctor Donald Cline, who, in a case of fertility fraud, used his own sperm to impregnate dozens of unsuspecting patients.
At the time, Indiana law didn't specifically prohibit fertility doctors from using their own sperm. The Medical Licensing Board of Indiana revoked his license in 2018. Cline is currently alive and in his 80s. Jourdan told The Guardian that "he's active around his community.
Instead, the charge that took him there was obstruction of justice — he had lied to prosecutors during their investigation. This meant that the evidence of Cline's actions involving his former patients was not admissible. Cline pled guilty, paid a $500 fine, and received two suspended sentences. He served no jail time.
She has since tracked 38 doctors and 331 cases nationwide of physicians accused of using their own sperm with their patients, mostly during the 1970s and 1980s. These numbers are expected to grow as more people take DNA tests.
Between 1974 and 1987, Cline sired over 90 children without disclosing himself as the sperm donor to his patients. As of May 11, 2022, Cline has been confirmed as the biological father of 94 doctor-conceived offspring.
How was Donald Cline caught and was he prosecuted? It was Ballard's DNA test that led her to start investigating, and her online family tree that she was building up from the results all kept leading back to the same name: Cline.
During the 1970s and '80s, Cline was widely regarded as one of the best fertility doctors in the business. A family man, church elder and devout Christian, Cline was also highly regarded in his community.
Advertisement: When asked why he used his own sperm in his patients, Cline said he was only trying to help desperate mothers and families. He then reassured his children that there were only 15 siblings in total, no more than that.
Why wasn t Dr Cline charged with medical malpractice?
Although a criminal statute was passed in 2019 addressing the type of harm committed by Dr. Cline, Winingham says Cline likely can not be charged under it because the acts were committed before the statute existed.
Dr. Cline is the father of Sheereen and Mark Farber's twin daughters, Alison Kramer and her unnamed sister. Sheeren and Mark were once good friends of Dr. Cline's.
Cline pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and admitted he inseminated patients with his own semen without their consent or knowledge. He was 79 years old at the time of his conviction. He received a one-year suspended sentence, a $500 fine and ultimately, served no prison time. Dr.
Cline fathered nearly 100 children during the 1970s and 1980s while using his own sperm to impregnate dozens of unsuspecting patients, according to court documents. These women were told by Cline that the donors were medical residents and that he used each donor for only three successful pregnancies.
But in Washington state, and in most of the country, there are no laws specifically banning doctors from secretly using their own sperm during artificial insemination procedures.
“The specimen must go into a cup that's approved by the lab and remain as close as possible to body temperature. The sample also can't contain any lubricants or moisturizers, unless they're approved by the lab,” says Herati. Sometimes a surgical procedure is necessary to extract sperm from testicular tissue.
Cline eventually lost his license, though this was after his retirement in 2009, according to The Atlantic. He faced a year of a suspended sentence and paid a $500 fine but did not serve jail time.
Did the fertility doctor's secret child sue Netflix over the documentary?
One of at least 87 children secretly fathered by an Indiana fertility doctor in the 1970s and '80s sued Netflix Inc. for exposing her identity in the documentary “Our Father.”
Dylan Stone-Miller is an American sperm donor who has helped father 96 children. Now, in 2023, he has decided to contact his biological children to meet them and become a part of their lives.
Netflix's Our Father Tells The True Story of a Fertility Doctor Who Used His Own Sperm on Patients. During the 1970s and '80s, a fertility specialist in Indiana named Dr. Donald Cline inseminated dozens of patients with his own sperm, without their knowledge or consent.
Isaiah 64:7 – “Yet, Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you our potter: we are all the work of your hand.” 1 John 3:1 – “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
With the Our Father, Jesus Christ teaches us to turn to God as our Father: “To pray to the Father is to enter into his mystery as he is and as the Son has revealed him to us. 'The expression God the Father had never been revealed to anyone.
Both the Catholics and the Protestants take the prayer from the Matthean version, because the Lucan version is a shorter one. The reason for this could be that Jesus taught the prayer at different times for a different audience.
At the time The Atlantic's 2019 article on Cline was published, he was in his 80s and still living in his home town of Indianapolis, Indiana. He kept a low profile and still had many supporters in the community. Several of Cline's children also live in Indianapolis, some within blocks of their biological father.
