Mother takes legal action against Russian sperm bank after giving birth to a boy with ‘dwarfism’ despite selecting a father over 6ft tall
- Court has ordered blocking of an international sperm bank’s website in Russia
- Comes after a woman gave birth to child with dwarfisn after selecting tall father
- The mother was told her son would grow to maximum adult height of around 4ft
A court has ordered the blocking of an international sperm bank’s website in Russia after a woman gave birth to a child with dwarfism.
The woman – a successful writer whose identity has not been disclosed – chose a father for her child from pictures of donors on the site.
She underwent successful IVF treatment at her private Moscow clinic after paying for his sperm.
Koptevsky district court ordered the blocking of the website of Danish sperm bank Cryos in Russia, and ruled that using its services would flout Russian laws
The woman underwent successful IVF treatment at her private Moscow clinic after paying for his sperm
A court has ordered the blocking of an international sperm bank’s website in Russia after a woman gave birth to a child with dwarfism (Pictured: Koptevsky district court)
She was attracted by his fair-haired looks, higher education – and height of more than 6ft.
Aged over 40, she believed this was her last chance to have a child.
But in the later stages of pregnancy, the unborn boy was detected with suspected achondroplasia, a rare incurable disease suffered by one child in 20,000 that causes dwarfism, a Moscow court heard.
This was confirmed after birth and she was told her son, now two, would grow to a maximum adult height of around 4ft, and that his limbs and facial features would not develop ‘correctly’ .
The woman said she wanted to warm other sperm bank customers of the risk.
Koptevsky district court ordered the blocking of the website of Danish sperm bank Cryos in Russia, and ruled that using its services would flout Russian laws.
Health watchdog Roszdravnadzor said it was not satisfied with case details handed over by the sperm bank.
Koptevsky district court ordered the blocking of the website of Danish sperm bank Cryos in Russia, and ruled that using its services would flout Russian laws
These included a ‘medical genetic examination’ of the donor, analysis of his ‘mental and physical condition’ and a family tree with details of relatives.
‘However, it is not possible to confirm the reliability of the information received,’ said the watchdog.
The company says it screens donors for 46 of the most common recessive genetic diseases.
The sperm bank told Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) newspaper that all the sperm it supplied was of excellent quality ‘but we are not responsible for the mistakes of the clinics’ which carry out IVF treatment.
Health watchdog Roszdravnadzor said it was not satisfied with case details handed over by the sperm bank
‘We only know that our biomaterial is of high quality,’ the paper was told.
The clinic called Mama did not comment.
However only 20 per cent of cases of achondroplasia are hereditary.
The majority are ‘spontaneous’ caused by a gene mutation at conception or during pregnancy.
The newspaper was told by medical sources that it was impossible to say unequivocally that the the dwarfism condition arose from the sperm donor.