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Imagine going through life thinking you know your father, only to find out later that your father is actually your mom’s old fertility doctor.

That’s how it was for Rebecca Dixon, now 31, who found out her real father was Dr. Barwin (pictured above), a fertility doctor that her parents had visited for treatment before her birth, reports the BBC.

She only found out that the doctor was her father because she developed a disease that nobody else in her family had.

Dr. Barwin worked at two fertility clinics in Ontario:

Some couples who were told that the male partner’s sperm would be used were unknowingly given random samples, and in some cases, the doctor’s own.

The Dixon family consequently launched a lawsuit against Dr. Barwin in 2016, and the class-action lawsuit now includes 226 people.

Here’s Rebecca with her mother and Daniel, who she found out was not her biological father:

Image: Rebecca Dixon

Now, in the first-ever legal settlement of its kind, Dr. Barwin is offering former patients and children a C$13 million (around R150 million) settlement agreement:

Under the terms of the deal, claimants will be given compensation based on a court-determined level of harm.

The proposal also calls for C$75 000 to be used to set up a [DNA] database for children conceived at his clinics to find out the identity of their father.

The purpose of the database will be to provide children with the opportunity to identify their biological fathers, gain access to medical history and to locate any half-siblings.

80-year-old Dr. Barwin has not practised since 2014, but some of the claims date as far back to the 1970s.

Only in 2019 was he stripped of his medical license by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

They called his actions “beyond reprehensible”, but that might be putting it lightly.

The settlement doesn’t require that the old fertility doctor admits to any fault, and it appears that he is happy to deny the claims laid against him.

Rebecca, on the other hand, has been left feeling like she will never achieve any closure:

“It is something that will be with us for the rest of our lives. But the legal side wrapping up will allow people to come to a bit more peace with the situation.”

The judge still needs to approve the settlement before any money will be made available.

[source:bbc]