Danish fertility clinics failed to warn 32 families of cancer risk from sperm donor

Two Danish fertility clinics neglected to inform 32 women that their children may have inherited a cancer-linked genetic mutation from a sperm donor, leaving families unware of the risk for up to two years, an investigation by public broadcaster DR has revealed.

The donor, identified only as Kjeld, carried a mutation associated with early-onset cancers, but clinics failed to alert nearly 40 percent of affected families when the risk was discovered in 2023. One couple, speaking anonymously to protect their children, only learned of the danger in 2025—two years after the donor’s sperm was blocked from use.

“We received a warning that should have come in 2023,” the mother, identified as Emma, told DR. “How is it possible that something this critical gets delayed for two years?”

The oversight emerged after Denmark’s Patient Safety Authority reviewed clinic records in late 2025. Of 81 women who conceived with Kjeld’s sperm at Danish clinics, 32 were never contacted—including 16 in Denmark and 16 abroad, primarily in Sweden and Norway. Their 98 children now face uncertain health risks, with genetic counselors warning that cancer is a question of when, not if.

One clinic, later acquired by Vitanova in 2024, failed to pass on the 2023 alert to Emma’s family. Another, now under Sjællands University Hospital, blamed a 2013 data transfer error for missing two families entirely. The hospital called the failure “deeply regrettable” but confirmed the mistake went unnoticed until Rigshospitalet queried the records in November 2025.

Bioethicist Arthur Caplan of New York University described the case as “the largest I’ve encountered where a dangerous disease has been passed from a sperm donor to so many children.”

Emma, who conceived both her children via donor sperm, said she assumed clinics would handle such risks flawlessly. “I trusted the system completely,” she said. “Now I don’t understand how two clinics with my full details could fail to reach me.”