Donald Cline is a retired American fertility doctor who inseminated countless patients with his own sperm without their knowledge or consent.
Our Father, available on Netflix from Wednesday, tells the story of Jacoba Ballard. Aware she was conceived using a donor, in 2014 she took an at-home DNA test to find her biological relatives.
She was surprised to learn she had seven half-sisters – a number that defied best practices in fertility medicine. That proved to be just the tip of the iceberg.
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Subsequent DNA matches led the group to discover the sickening truth about their parents' trusted doctor. Cline is now known to have fathered at least 50 children by women he treated at his clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the 1970s and 1980s.
Netflix's description of the documentary says: "As Ballard and her newfound siblings realized they’ve barely begun to untangle his dark web of deceit, their pursuit of justice lies at the heart of this profoundly unsettling story about an unimaginable breach of trust".
Where is Dr Donald Cline now?
Cline assumed a low profile after his actions were exposed but he is understood still to be alive and living in Indiana. He retired from practice in 2009.
Under the state and federal law of the time, Cline's conduct was not deemed a criminal offence and so his victims have so far struggled to achieve what they see as adequate legal justice. In 2017 he lost his medical licence, was handed a one-year suspended prison sentence and was fined $500 (£400) for obstructing justice by denying the allegations.
Our Father is now streaming on Netflix. Runtime: 1h 37m. Age rating: 15.
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