Could I end up being The Man With 1000 Kids?!

You may have seen the recent Netflix documentary investigating a sperm donor who is thought to have over a 1000 donor offspring. It shows how one man has donated at multiple fertility clinics in the Netherlands and other countries, and through unregulated private donation websites across the world. The documentary highlights the distress and psychological damage this man’s actions have caused– both to the recipients who used his samples, and the many children born as a result of it. 

Perhaps this is making you cautious about donating sperm yourself… and that is totally understandable.

Firstly we should say that, whilst this story is alarming and will no doubt cause anxiety for men considering donating sperm (or men who have already donated sperm), this is a very extreme and unusual case. One man’s selfish and thoughtless actions do not accurately reflect regulated donation services as a whole. We wanted to allay any fears or misconceptions by explaining how The Man With 1000 Kids happened.

How did this happen?

Each country sets its own regulations and laws around sperm donation. They vary in terms of who can donate, how donors are registered and the birth outcomes monitored, and how many children can be created per donor. However there is no enforced international limit– which means donors can donate and be used in multiple countries.

Could this happen if I donated sperm?

Licensed UK sperm banks are highly regulated: the UK has one of the most strict policies when it comes to storage and use of donated sperm. We are inspected and licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), and those working in a licensed clinic are held personally accountable in law. We work to a very detailed Code of Practise to ensure we are compliant with the statutory legal framework laid out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

Key points you should know about the UK regulations are:

• – All UK donors have their identity checked prior to being accepted and at every donation appointment they attend.
• – All UK donors are registered on a central secure database held by the HFEA that would highlight if a person had already been registered as donating at another UK clinic. The same register holds all the information about who has used the donor’s sperm, and the children that have been born.
• – The UK has a strict 10 family limit per donor, and donors can choose to limit it to less than this if they prefer.

However: this family limit only applies to children conceived within the UK.

If donor samples are exported outside of the UK, or a donor chose to donate in another country, additional families could be created according to any legal limits that exist in the export country.

Why choose to donate sperm at NUH Life?

By exporting UK recruited donors outside of the UK, commercial clinics have found a way to increase their profits– but it comes at the cost of the psychological wellbeing of the donor, the recipients and the donor conceived offspring. As an NHS organisation, our ethos is to provide excellence and integrity in all we do. We do not have to satisfy shareholders by putting profit before people. 

This is why NUH Life are committed to recruiting UK based donors who have a desire to give others a much longed for family, in a safe, affordable and ethical way. We have made a commitment that we will not export our donor samples outside of the UK. By doing this we can say that 10 families MEANS 10 families, giving reassurance to our amazing community of donors that they will not become The Man with 1000 Kids.

I’m still not sure about donating myself ….

If you have any concerns or wish to talk through any of the issues raised in the documentary, please do get in touch– we would love the opportunity to explain more about how we operate at NUH Life and provide reassurance. Sperm donation is such a fulfilling thing to do, and we want to do all we can to help men to come forward and explore if it’s the right thing for them to be part of.

Donation is not for everyone, but for those who do decide to become a sperm donor, NUH Life is there to support and protect you throughout.