A fertility doctor previously disciplined for artificially inseminating several women with the wrong sperm is set to appear before Ontario’s medical regulator today to face additional allegations, including that he used his own sperm in certain procedures.
Dr. Bernard Norman Barwin admitted to committing professional misconduct when he appeared before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s discipline committee in 2013, saying errors in his practice had left three patients with children whose biological fathers were not the ones they intended.
The committee suspended him from practising medicine for two months, but Barwin gave up his licence the following year.
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A notice of hearing says Barwin will now face allegations of incompetence, of failing to maintain the standard of practice of the profession and of engaging in dishonourable or unprofessional conduct.
It says the allegations relate to his failing to ensure the correct sperm was used in his practice and to his using his own sperm to inseminate patients, as well as to his responses to the college during its investigations into these issues.
Though Barwin already gave up his medical licence, the college could revoke it if he is found guilty on these additional grounds. That would alert other medical regulators should he apply to practise medicine elsewhere.
The Canadian Press