McDougall v The Children concerned a sperm donor’s quest for parental responsibility or contact. The court refused permission.
The applicant had deliberately not disclosed his incurable hereditary condition, which prevented him from donating at clinics, when advertising himself as a donor on social media, resulting in the subsequent birth of 15 children.
Lyon looks into this complex case, the rights and duties of both sides and why the judge named McDougall in court as a public warning and to stop him doing the same again.