Family Tree of Fraud: How Did One Man End Up With Over 90 Children?
When Jacoba Ballard was 10 years old, she began to speculate that she was adopted — she looked nothing like her family, having blue eyes and blonde hair. Her mother informed her she was not adopted; however, she was conceived by a sperm donor due to fertility issues. In 2014, Jacoba took a 23andme DNA test and learned she had seven half-siblings. Horrified, her family wondered how this could happen, as it’s assured that no sperm donor can be used more than three times. As she continued to research, Jacoba discovered she had 94 half-siblings, and their father was none other than her mother’s fertility doctor, Donald Lee Cline.
This sickening case came to light in 2014 when Jacoba attempted to seek out her half-siblings and her biological father. According to Elle.com, “Cline first opened his practice in 1979, and it’s believed he was inseminating women up until 1986.” In just seven years, Cline became a father to 94 (and counting) children. His practice, Indianapolis Infertility Inc., has since been closed down and has settled with a compensation of $100,000 to some of the families involved. In addition, the Patient Compensation Fund paid $350,000 to those families.
In 2019, Indiana became the first state to make it illegal for fertility physicians to use their sperm without the patient’s consent. Unfortunately, the only punishments Cline faced in his 2017 trial were a $500 fine, the suspension of his medical license (Cline retired in 2009), and two counts of felony obstruction of justice. When interviewed by fox59.com in May of 2022, attorney Kent Winingham stated, “I absolutely think a crime was committed, but there was no statute or law addressing this type of harm, so it was impossible to charge the doctor with a crime.”
Although what Cline did is not illegal, it was an obstruction of privacy and consent to all of the women involved. An article by newsweek.com states that, “At the time, Cline told his patients the sperm donors were medical residents (which are temporary positions), using each donor for only three pregnancies.” However, while his patients were lying on a doctor’s office table, anticipating the wait of finally having a baby after many failed attempts, Dr. Cline was in a neighboring room ejaculating. Cline would then walk back into the room — most likely still aroused — and inject his own sperm into his unsuspecting patients.
Since his criminal investigation in 2017, many of his 94 (and counting) biological children have spread their stories — some being on the 2022 Netflix documentary about the case: “Our Father.” The half-siblings even teamed up and tracked down Dr. Cline, and he admitted to using his own sperm and destroying the records but never explained why he used his own sperm. “Our Father” follows how Jacoba’s (sibling #1) life changed when she got her DNA results back, along with how many of the other siblings reacted. In fact, the day the trailer for the documentary dropped, a new sibling had popped up. They also advocated for how corrupt the medical world can be and how you never really know what’s happening under the surface.
This case highlights just how much power doctors can dangle over you; Dr. Cline used his power to take advantage of unsuspecting women struggling with infertility. Today, little is known about Cline’s whereabouts, and he still has not faced any true punishment for his sickening actions.