Fertility doctor who used own sperm surrenders license

TERRA HAUTE (AP) — A retired Indianapolis fertility doctor who lied about using his own sperm to impregnate women surrendered his medical licence on Thursday to a state board that also barred him from ever seeking its reinstatement.

After a lawyer for Dr. Donald Cline surrendered his expired licence to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, the seven-member panel voted to prohibit the 79-year-old Cline from ever applying for a licence in Indiana again.

Indiana’s supervising deputy attorney general, Laura Iosue, asked the seven-member board before that vote to consider the impact of Cline’s actions.

“It’s particularly egregious. The important thing is that Dr. Cline doesn’t practice anymore,” she said.

Cline, who retired from practice in 2009, was given a one-year suspended sentence in December after pleading guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice.

He had used his own sperm to impregnate as possibly dozens of women after telling them the donors were anonymous.

No other charges were filed against Cline because Indiana law doesn’t specifically prohibit fertility doctors from using their own sperm.

Cline was charged after lying to investigators, and he had faced up to three years in prison on each count.

The charges stemmed from two confirmed cases of paternity, but children of women treated by Cline have said DNA tests show he is likely the biological father of as many as 20 of them.

Cline apologized “for the pain my actions have caused” during his December sentencing, although he did not specify how often he used his own sperm in procedures.