In-vitro Fertilization
A recent report reveals that the number of IVF births in the US per year is on the growing side. In Picture: Human genetic material is stored at a laboratory in Munich May 23, 2011. On May 25, 2011 the ethic commission of the German lower house of parliament (Bundestag) will discuss about alternative proposals for a new law on the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (Praeimplantationsdiagnostik) is a technique used to identify genetic defects in embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) before pregnancy, which is banned by German legislation. Reuters

It’s a story fit for a medical drama or a soap opera. The usual theme of a child’s paternity being under question is the heart of a lawsuit before Judge Deborah Taylor of the Central London County Court after the husband filed sued his ex-wife.

The man, a lecturer in his now in his 60s, filed a lawsuit against his former wife for 100,000 pounds representing expenses on a boy he supposedly sired through In Vitro Fertilisation or IVF. However, he found out during an argument with his wife when the boy was five that the sperm used to fertilise her was that of her former boyfriend.

The couple married in 2002 but divorced several years ago when the child was barely one years old. The child, now nine, was conceived in a fertility clinic in Barcelona, Spain, in 2004. But it turned out the clinic used the sperm of her former boyfriend which he gave when he and the woman returned to the Spain clinic a few months after the married couple went and gave their sperm and egg.

The man is aware that the ex-boyfriend donated sperm, but the woman told her husband before it was his sperm they used. Now, counting the months, the man is sure the boy is not his because the child was born late 2005, according to the man’s lawyer, Thomas Burdenell.

During the early years of their marriage, the man says he took care of “their” baby when the wife was at work, and he spent about 80,000 pounds for the boy’s maintenance.

When she told that he isn’t the father, the man went through a DNA test which confirmed that he didn’t sire the boy, although the child’s birth certificate says he fathered the boy. The man sought damages for distress and humiliation.

The woman now claims she didn’t know which sperm cells were used to impregnate her, reports TimesLive. “I did make an assumption that it was most likely they would use the fresh sample but I didn’t know for certain what they actually did,” Telegraph quotes the woman.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au

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