Fertility clinic errors delayed cancer warnings for donor-conceived children

A review of patient records at the Danish fertility clinic Vitanova has revealed that at least 32 women—nearly 40 percent of those treated with sperm from donor Kjeld—were never warned in 2023 when the donor was found to carry a high-risk cancer gene, the national broadcaster DR reports.

The oversight stems from disarray in the records of Stork Klinik, a now-defunct fertility chain whose patient files Vitanova acquired after its bankruptcy in 2024. While Stork Klinik was responsible for notifying affected families in October 2023, internal reviews showed 20 women from its clinics had not received alerts—some because their contact details were marked as missing, others because their records were filed under the donor’s ID number rather than the clinic’s name.

A further seven cases emerged only after a mother, Dorte Kellermann, contacted Vitanova in late 2025. Kellermann, who gave birth in 2008 using Kjeld’s sperm at the now-closed Dansk Fertilitetsklinik (later absorbed by Stork Klinik), learned of the genetic risk not from the clinic but from another mother on Facebook. Her case prompted Vitanova to re-examine records, uncovering additional unnotified women.

Kirstine Sneider, Vitanova’s medical director, attributed the failures to chaotic record-keeping during Stork Klinik’s financial collapse. “It was an extremely unfortunate situation that coincided with the donor being flagged,” she told DR, declining to criticise the defunct clinic directly. Some records were recovered only after searching paper archives.

Of the 81 women treated with Kjeld’s sperm—36 in Denmark and 45 abroad—40 percent received no warning. Danish health authorities report that just 38 of the 44 children born to Danish mothers have since undergone genetic counselling.

Mads Bjerre Andersen, Stork Klinik’s director at the time, has not responded to DR’s requests for comment on why the notifications failed.