At least 30 children, most of them British, were apparently born following in vitro fertilization treatments in northern Cyprus in which sperm or egg donors were used who were different from those chosen by their parents, according to a new BBC investigation. Half of the cases uncovered are linked to a single clinic, Dogus IVF Centre.
The new investigation expands on a previous BBC report published in March, which included seven cases. Since then, additional families have approached the BBC and shared similar, troubling stories.
Israel’s Health Ministry told ynet that it has no authority to prevent Israelis from undergoing fertility treatments in northern Cyprus, “and it has no information about treatments carried out there.”
The parents say they carefully chose anonymous donors based on medical history, appearance, personality, education and hobbies. But now they fear that different donors were actually used. “It's absolutely scandalous,” said Rachel, one of the mothers who recently discovered that a sperm donor other than the one she chose was used in her treatment.
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At least 30 children were apparently born after fertility treatments used donors other than those chosen by their parents
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Three staff members — Dr. Firdevs Uguz Tip, Dr. Sevket Alpturk and patient coordinator Julie Hodson — were involved in the treatment of many of the cases at the Dogus clinic. The parents suspect they were misled by staff.
Firdevs denies any wrongdoing, while Alpturk and Hodson did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment. The investigation also found that Cryos International of Denmark, the world’s largest sperm bank, blacklisted the Dogus clinic as early as 2016.
Clinics under loose supervision
Northern Cyprus — a territory not subject to European Union law and officially recognized only by Turkey — has become a popular destination for Britons seeking fertility treatments abroad. Clinics in the area operate under relatively loose supervision and offer low prices, high success rates and a wide selection of donors. Since the first investigation was published, additional parents have contacted the BBC and said the clinics where they were treated promised them healthy donors from Western Europe who had undergone screening procedures. Suspicions arose only after their children were born.
So far, 11 of the 30 children have undergone commercial DNA testing. The results showed that they carry genetic ancestry from Turkey or nearby countries — a finding that strengthens the suspicion that the donors their parents chose were not the ones actually used in the treatments. Most of the children tested were born following treatments carried out at the Dogus clinic between 2012 and 2024. The families are now left with difficult questions about the identity of the real donors and their medical history.
Laura Bridgens, founder of Donor Conceived UK, described the findings as “deeply troubling.” She said a person born from sperm donation has a fundamental right to know the truth about their origins.
'I used to think the clinic made a one-off mistake'
For years, Rachel wondered whether the wrong sperm donor had been used in her treatment at the Dogus clinic. After reading the BBC’s first investigation, she decided to take a DNA test together with her son Jonah, now 13, who was born following the sperm donation. The results confirmed her fears.
alf of the cases revealed in the BBC investigation are linked to the Dogus clinic in Northern Cyprus
(Photo: Shutterstock)
"I used to think the clinic had made a one-off mistake,” she says. After learning of additional families who had contacted the BBC, she now believes it was “something much larger and far more deceptive.” Rachel chose to undergo treatment at the Dogus clinic in 2012 after receiving a recommendation for a “helpful and friendly” patient coordinator named Julie Hodson. Hodson’s role was to serve as the intermediary between her and the treating doctor, Dr. Firdevs Uguz Tip.
Rachel, who was 39 at the time, needed a sperm donation to fertilize her eggs in a laboratory and create an embryo for implantation. The treatment package cost about 4,000 euros — about 3,200 pounds at the time — significantly less than the cost of a similar treatment in Britain. The package was supposed to include sperm from a Cryos International donor. On the Cryos website, Rachel chose an anonymous Danish donor whose profile called him “Ditto.”
The profile stated that he was willing for children born from his donation to discover his identity when they turned 18. “I wanted my child to have the option of contacting the donor,” she says. Several of the clinic’s patient coordinators, including Hodson, told Rachel that Dr. Firdevs would make sure to order the sperm from the donor she had chosen. Rachel flew to northern Cyprus for the treatment and became pregnant shortly afterward.
Her first suspicions arose when the patient coordinators, including Hodson, repeatedly refused to send her a medical report confirming that Ditto’s sperm had indeed been used. Even after Jonah was born, she had doubts: His appearance was very different both from hers and from the description in the donor’s profile. Now, after 13 years of uncertainty, Rachel and Jonah’s DNA tests showed that he is indeed her biological son — but Ditto is not the sperm donor.
DNA tests conducted on 11 of the children strengthened the suspicion that the donors chosen were not the ones used
(Photo: Shutterstock)
After reviewing the test results, the BBC reporter contacted Cryos. The sperm bank said it had no record of ever supplying sperm to the Dogus clinic, even though the clinic had for years presented its connection with the bank as a central marketing tool. The finding reinforces the suspicions of many families that they were misled about the identities of the donors actually used in their treatments.
Negligence or deception?
Fertility experts who were shown the investigation’s findings expressed shock at the possibility that the affair involves 30 children. They said the use of the wrong donor during IVF treatment is an extremely rare event. When such cases recur again and again on such a broad scale, it may point to “negligence” or to “deception.” The British Fertility Society said the findings indicate a "systemic problem which transcends one rogue doctor and one rogue clinic.” In the 15 cases linked to the Dogus clinic, the names of three staff members came up repeatedly.
Dr. Sevket Alpturk is the owner and “responsible manager” of the clinic. According to the northern Cyprus administration, in that role he must approve all procedures and activities carried out there. Alpturk treated the parents of six of the children in whose cases the suspected use of the wrong donor arose. The BBC contacted him for comment but received no response.
The other nine cases linked to Dogus were treated by Firdevs. She says responsibility for approving procedures at the clinic lay with Alpturk. She denies ever misleading patients. Firdevs also was involved in nine similar cases at two other clinics after leaving Dogus in 2015. Most of those cases occurred at Miracle IVF, which she now manages.
parents chose the donors based on medical information and personal characteristics
(Photo: Shutterstock)
She says the clinic always operated in accordance with the law, and that patients sign consent forms explaining how donors are selected. However, many of the parents who spoke with the BBC say they did not receive sufficient information.
'It could have been very traumatic'
Another figure linked to many of the cases at the Dogus clinic is Julie Hodson, who served as the main contact person for most of the British patients. In emails she sent to patients, Hodson wrote repeatedly that Firdevs would make sure to order the sperm from Cryos for them. Firdevs, by contrast, says ordering sperm was not part of her job at all and that she did not know patients had been given different information.
Hodson did not respond to repeated attempts by the BBC to contact her. It is unclear whether she deliberately avoided ordering the donors from Cryos, or simply failed to pass patients’ requests on to the clinic staff. Hodson and Firdevs are also accused of ignoring or dismissing inquiries from patients who raised concerns that they had received the wrong donor.
Following the investigation’s findings, Cryos CEO Ole Schou said he was “shocked to hear how many families may be affected.” The sperm bank revealed that it blacklisted the Dogus clinic as early as 2016. The decision was made after it suspected the clinic had not ordered sperm for a patient despite promising to do so.
The bank has now also suspended its cooperation with Firdevs and the Miracle IVF clinic pending the conclusion of the northern Cyprus administration’s investigation. Firdevs claims she has already been cleared of any violation of the law, but the BBC was unable to verify that claim with the local Health Ministry. Northern Cyprus’ Health Ministry announced after the first report was published in March that it had opened an official investigation. Since then, the ministry has not responded to repeated BBC requests for additional details.
It may never become fully clear who was responsible for the families receiving donors different from those they had chosen. For most of his life, Jonah thought he was half Danish. The DNA tests revealed that his ancestry is actually Turkish and southern European. “Luckily Jonah was fascinated to find out about his heritage,” Rachel says. “Even so, what happened is not OK. It's a huge deal and could have been absolutely traumatizing for him.”
The Israeli Health Ministry’s responded to ynet’s inquiry on the matter: “About two years ago, the Justice Ministry’s Unit for the Coordination of the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons published a warning about concern over harm to surrogate mothers in northern Cyprus. Following this, the Health Ministry banned the import into Israel of sperm, eggs and fertilized eggs from northern Cyprus.
“In addition, the ministry instructed doctors to inform patients seeking to undergo fertility treatments there about the warning and the possible difficulties in verifying documents, among other things because of the absence of diplomatic relations and an Israeli representative office there. The Health Ministry has no authority to prevent Israelis from undergoing fertility treatments in northern Cyprus, and it has no information about treatments carried out there.”