Over 40 years after a couple sought fertility assistance in Boston, Massachusetts, a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts claims that the daughter, Carolyn, discovered through a DNA kit that Dr. Merle Berger, a fertility specialist and co-founder of Boston IVF, is her biological father.
“This is an extreme violation,” Depoian said in a statement released by her attorney, Adam Wolf. “I am still struggling to process it. I trusted Dr. Berger fully. We thought he would act responsibly and ethically. I will never fully recover from his violation of me.”
The lawsuit alleges that in 1980, Dr. Berger secretly used his own sperm to inseminate Carolyn’s mother, Sarah Depoian. At that time, Depoian was informed by Dr. Berger, a former Harvard Medical School professor, that the sperm used would be from a medical resident who resembled her husband and whom she did not know.
Contrary to the information provided, the complaint asserts that Dr. Berger used his own sperm without Depoian’s consent. Carolyn, Depoian’s daughter, discovered Dr. Berger’s biological connection through DNA kits purchased from Ancestry.com and 23andMe.
Results revealed a relationship with Dr. Berger’s granddaughter and second cousin. After contacting newfound relatives, Carolyn pieced together the information. When Depoian approached Dr. Berger through her attorney, he reportedly did not deny her consent only to insemination with an unknown donor.
Dr. Berger’s legal team, as reported by CNN affiliate WCVB, has issued a statement denying the allegations. Dr. Berger retired from Boston IVF in 2020.
