In an Industry that Makes People, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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Plenty. Take, for example, Donor No. 9632.
A recent story from Canada in The Star illustrates the problem. The profile for Donor #9632 from the Xytex Corporation seemed particularly attractive to many women. His sperm has been used to create 36 children: 19 boys and 17 girls from 26 families. But through an inadvertent breach of confidentiality, one mother discovered the identity of Mr. 9632, and did some internet sleuthing:
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The donor was nothing like the perfectly healthy man — aside from some color blindness on his dad’s side — touted on the sperm bank’s website. Nor was he working on a PhD in neuroscience engineering en route to becoming a professor of biomedical robotics at a medical school.
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Instead, [the donor], a now 39-year-old man from Georgia, has struggled with serious mental illness for much of his adult life. In addition to schizophrenia, court documents show he has had diagnoses of bipolar and narcissistic personality disorders, and has described himself as having schizoaffective disorder.
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He has a history of run-ins with the law, has done time in jail, dropped out of college and struggled in the past to hold down jobs.
. . .
One of the mothers said she feels cheated: “I felt like I was duped by Xytex and I failed my son for having chosen Xytex. In hindsight, a hitchhiker on the side of the road would have been a far more responsible option for conceiving a child.”
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Full story at Catholic Lane here.
 
Not to defend this industry but genetics is not always destiny.
Reading that reminds me of this:
A Dutch court has approved a request by families seeking DNA tests on the belongings of a late fertility clinic doctor accused of using his own sperm in dozens of cases.
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Jan Karbaat is suspected of fathering about 60 children at the centre he ran in Bijdorp, near Rotterdam.
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bbc.com/news/world-europe-40131107
 
We will probably see some major changes in this fairly soon when the science of genetic engineering advances.
 
In an Industry that Makes People, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Just about everything. 😃
 
I thought it was science fiction when I started reading.
Terrifying.

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