A lawsuit filed on Dec. 19 in the Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that Beverly Hills fertility specialist, Hal Danzer, M.D., impregnated a woman with a stranger’s sperm rather than her husband’s sperm without the couple’s consent. The woman gave birth to twin girls but did not discover until this year that her husband had no biological relationship with them.
The twins are now in their late 30s.
Plaintiffs in the case are the unnamed couple, described in the complaint under the pseudonyms “John Doe” and “Jane Doe.” They claim that for nearly 40 years, the family believed that the husband was the biological father of the twins, one of whom now has a child of her own.
The complaint states that as a young couple, the plaintiffs turned to Danzer, a well-known fertility specialist, to help them start a family. They underwent successful treatment in 1986. Unbeknownst to them, the sperm used to conceive the twins belonged to a stranger named Dennis Goldman.
The twins made the discovery about their paternity after tests through Ancestry.com and 23andMe revealed no relation to their father. The suit alleges that the actual sperm donor, Goldman, produced several other biological children through Danzer and his now-shuttered fertility clinic, Los Angeles Fertility Institute. Moreover, the complaint states that Goldman suffered unspecified medical issues and died young, raising the specter of health concerns for the twins.
The complaint alleges causes of action for battery, fraud, infliction of emotional distress, professional malpractice and breach of contract. It states that Danzer co-founded and currently practices at the Southern California Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills.
This is a developing story, which the Courier will continue to follow.
