The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A ‘grievous betrayal’
State woman says she dated half-brother after her mom, others inseminated with doctor’s sperm
NEW HAVEN — Lawyers for two women who say a fertility doctor inseminated them and a number of others with his own sperm — resulting in one woman’s daughter unknowingly dating a half brother in high school — are seeking more information for use in suing the doctor, Yale University and related entities.
The women’s lawyers filed the petition for a “bill of discovery” earlier this month in state Superior Court in New Haven against Yale University and various related entities, including Yale New Haven Hospital.
The petition also names as a defendant Dr. Burton V. Caldwell, 85, of Clinton, who formerly practiced medicine as a reproductive endocrinologist, according to the petition.
In a statement, Yale New Haven Health and Yale said they “are hopeful the court will again deny the request, as it did last year, as there was no evidence of their involvement in the conduct alleged against Dr. Caldwell.”
Last year’s bill of discovery against Yale in relation to Caldwell was filed by different lawyers for other plaintiffs and it did not state the same allegations cited in the new petition.
The bill of discovery filed last week accuses Caldwell of using his own sperm to inseminate two other women after telling them the sperm would come from a Yale medical trainee who had been screened for health issues, looked like the woman’s husband, did not plan to stay in the area and had not donated frequently.
A previous lawsuit filed last year by a different woman and her mother claims Caldwell may have fathered more than 22 children in a similar fashion.
No lawyer is listed for Caldwell in court records. Caldwell and an attorney who represents him in another case could not be reached for comment.
Woman says she was ‘intimate’ with half brother
Caldwell’s medical license is listed as “inactive” in online state records, which say it lapsed due to non-renewal in 2005 after he had been licensed in Connecticut for 28 years.
One of the women seeking the information in the new case is Maralee Hill, of Wethersfield. The petition alleges that she gave birth to her daughter, Victoria Hill, as a result of an artificial insemination in which Caldwell used his own sperm.
Maralee and Victoria Hill were among about 30 people who testified Monday before the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee on a bill to prohibit doctors from using their own sperm to inseminate patients without consent. The bill as currently written would create civil liability, but would not make fertility fraud a crime.
In her written testimony, Victoria Hill said she recently discovered that her high school boyfriend was one of her half siblings. Hill testified that she was “intimate and in a relationship” with him “and very much could have seen myself marrying this man and having children had we not gone to different colleges and allowed life to take us in different directions.”
She also testified that, after learning she was Caldwell’s biological daughter, “I confronted Dr. Caldwell who very readily admitted to donating for many years and showed no remorse or concern for what he had done.”
Jody Madeira, a law professor at Indiana University Bloomington who has written a book about infertility issues, said Monday she believes this is the first confirmed case of a person dating a half sibling as a result of alleged fertility fraud in the U.S. She said there have been such cases in England involving sperm donors.
The court petition seeks some basic information from Caldwell, such as a court-ordered DNA test, likely to determine whether he is the biological father of the children involved. The plaintiffs believe he is the father based on half sibling relationships identified through commercial DNA testing services.
The petition also seeks extensive information on Caldwell’s relationship to Yale to determine whether the school can be held legally liable for the doctor’s acts. Even in the absence of a law specifically banning fertility fraud, the plaintiffs’ lawyers believe they have legal grounds to sue, based on claims such as medical negligence, fraudulent concealment and violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, according to the petition.
The petition claims there is already considerable evidence of Caldwell’s relationship to Yale, including that he was on its medical staff, was a professor at Yale School of Medicine, and saw and treated patients at Yale. The petition also says Caldwell listed Yale affiliations among his credits when he co-authored scientific papers.
‘Grievous betrayal’
The lawyers representing the two women seeking the information are Matthew S. Blumenthal and Kelly A. Fitzpatrick of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder.
Blumenthal on Monday called Caldwell’s use of his own sperm a “grievous betrayal of trust in some of the most intimate and vulnerable parts of people’s lives.”
He said the mothers “were desperate to have children” and willing to submit themselves to invasive procedures.
“It also involves some of the core elements of people’s identity, who am I and where do I come from?” he said of the children.
Several other families may also file separate legal actions, said attorney Rosalie Louis, who is representing Janine Pierson and her mother Doreen in the first lawsuit filed against Caldwell.
That lawsuit also contends that Doreen Pierson was seeing Caldwell for fertility issues and was told she would be artificially inseminated with sperm from a Yale medical intern who would remain anonymous. The Piersons said in the lawsuit that Janine Pierson found at least 22 others who are her half siblings, all of whom were fathered by Caldwell through artificial insemination, the documents stated.
Louis has said some of the other families are considering filing their own lawsuits through her firm, Lynch Traub Keefe & Errante. Louis said she is seeking to question Caldwell’s former nurses under oath. Caldwell and his business associates have already undergone out-ofcourt questioning under oath as part of the lawsuit, she said.
“We’ve talked to a number of families impacted by this,” Louis said.
In 2022, Janine Pierson did a home DNA test and discovered Caldwell was her biological father, according to the lawsuit. When she confronted him with the test, Caldwell admitted “using his own sperm to artificially inseminate numerous patients,” including her mother, the lawsuit contends.
Doreen Pierson said in the lawsuit that she was never told the sperm came from Caldwell and has suffered emotional distress knowing that someone she trusted to perform an intimate procedure had used his own sperm, which resulted in the birth of her daughter.
As a result of his conduct, Janine Pierson said her life has been forever changed because she fears various heredity diseases that run in Caldwell’s family, according to the lawsuit. She also fears she’ll wind up dating or being intimate with a person who is actually her half sibling, the lawsuit said.
Caldwell filed a motion to have some of the lawsuit dismissed, court records show. But a judge declined to rule on the motion, saying it would need to be filed in a timely manner. The case is scheduled to go to trial with jury selection starting in September 2025, according to the Judicial Branch website.