[News] [Canada] Ottawa fertility specialist is accused of using wrong sperm to inseminate two patients
Stephanie Stevens
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Excerpt: As an infertility specialist, Barwin has helped many women,
including lesbian couples and single women, start families. He has
also treated transgender patients in their quest to realize their
sexual identity.
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Ottawa fertility specialist is accused of using wrong sperm to
inseminate two patients
Published On Sat Sep 18 2010
Elizabeth Thompson Special to the Star
OTTAWA—With his resemblance to actor Dustin Hoffman and a soft-spoken
Nelson Mandela-like voice, Dr. Norman Barwin seems like one of the
last people you might expect to find embroiled in a controversy.
His credentials and awards could fill a wall — from community service
awards to the Order of Canada. He has penned dozens of medical
articles and a scholarship bears his name. He and his wife are pillars
of Ottawa’s Jewish community and are regularly mentioned in the
society pages.
But Barwin, a fertility specialist, is up to his neck in controversy
at the moment, accused of using the wrong sperm to inseminate two
patients.
The patients have filed separate suits in Ontario’s Superior Court,
asking for a total of $3 million in damages and the names of the
donors who fathered their children. Moreover, they are asking the
court to order Barwin be tested to determine whether he used his own
sperm to inseminate the two women.
While the allegations have not been proven in court, the lawsuit has
resulted in headlines across the country.
Barwin has declined interviews but in a 2001 interview with the Ottawa
Citizen, he said inseminating a patient with the wrong sperm was his
“worst nightmare.”
It’s not the first time that Barwin, 72, has found himself in the
midst of controversy or of conflict.
Born in South Africa to Russian and Lithuanian parents, Barwin left
South Africa’s apartheid regime in the 1960s to study in Belfast,
Northern Ireland.
Speaking to Carleton University graduates last year after receiving an
honorary doctorate, Barwin gave a hint of the conflict he witnessed in
those two countries.
“Having been brought up in South Africa, as you can tell by my funny
accent, during the apartheid regime, I witnessed the trial of my hero
Nelson Mandela. Having lived in Northern Ireland and again witnessed
animosity and hatred, this time because of religion, and now having
lived in Canada for over 30 years, I appreciate the great privilege
and freedom we have to obtain education here in this diverse and
multiracial country full with opportunity.”
Sometimes described as a maverick, Barwin has usually been at the
forefront of sexual health issues ever since he moved to Canada in
1973. In the late 1970s, he set up the first sexual health clinics in
Ottawa’s public high schools and at one point went around Ottawa in an
old school bus dubbed the “Sex Bus” distributing sexual health
information.
A former president of Planned Parenthood and currently president of
Canadians for Choice, Barwin has been an outspoken advocate for
abortion rights and was one of those who proposed Dr. Henry
Morgentaler for the Order of Canada — a controversial award that
prompted some recipients to resign from the order.
As an infertility specialist, Barwin has helped many women, including
lesbian couples and single women, start families. He has also treated
transgender patients in their quest to realize their sexual identity.
Barwin says the hope and strength of his patients inspires him.
“I have been a physician for over 45 years and each day I’m inspired
by my patients,” he told Carleton grads.
However, being at the leading edge on issues as sensitive as sexual
health and abortion can sometimes take a toll.
“I know Dr. Barwin had quite a few (pieces of) hate mail,” recalls
Patricia LaRue, executive director of Canadians for Choice and an
unabashed admirer of him. “He had protesters outside his children’s
school when his children were younger.”
Despite a busy schedule that often sees him sending emails at 3 a.m.
or 4 a.m., Barwin advocates balancing work and personal lives.
“Find a balance in your life,” he advised Carleton grads. “Certainly
seek to have a rich, full, and satisfying work life but ensure you
find the same richness, fullness and satisfaction in your personal
life.”
Friends describe Barwin as a devoted father of four and grandfather of
10 who has transformed the basement of his Ottawa home into a playroom
complete with a climbing set for his grandchildren.
Katherine McDonald, who has served with Barwin on the boards of
different groups, said he is quick to offer his home for meetings and
takes delight in cooking for guests.
Barwin lists his hobbies as tennis, skiing, cycling and gourmet
cooking. However, he announced in 2002 that he was quitting marathon
races after he was caught cheating in Ottawa’s National Capital
Marathon and the Boston Marathon. At the time he said he did it to
experience the thrill of crossing the finish line despite problems
with a hernia that acted up.
However, that doesn’t seem to matter to the women who head to his
fertility clinic and write glowing tributes on websites such as
ratemds.com
LaRue says Barwin’s concern for sexual health stems from his concern for women.
“He deeply cares about women and about women’s rights and making sure
that women can become mothers if that’s what they want to be. He’s
really devoted to helping women.”
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