‘Our Father’ is Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary that recounts the disturbing but true story of a fertility doctor who inseminated many of his patients with his own sperm – without either their consent or knowledge.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s, treatment for infertility and artificial insemination was still in its infancy. Dr Donald Cline from Indianapolis was one of the few practising fertility doctors then, and was considered to be one of the best in this field.
Little did everyone know what this doctor was secretly doing.
More chilling is that since the discovery of Cline’s actions, many mothers and their children have discovered that other fertility doctors had also been doing the same in other states.
The documentary features interviews with the mothers, children and close associates of the doctor, none of whom ever suspected what he was doing.
Cline’s actions were only discovered three decades after the fact, thanks to advances in technology that meant home DNA tests were now easily available.
At the centre of the documentary is Jacoba Ballard who, often questioning her identity, took a home DNA test to trace her biological father.
The results astounded her. She found that she had not one, two or three half-siblings but seven people who shared her DNA.
Rattled, she relentlessly investigated this phenomenon, and discovered that all her half-siblings had a connection to Cline as they were able to trace their biological history to this man’s family.
Over time it became evident that Cline fathered more than 94 children. And this was just from the state of Indianapolis. The exact number of patients that Cline secretly inseminated is not known.
The documentary highlights the trauma these half-siblings experience once faced with the truth of their identities and their frustration at not being able to hold Cline accountable for his ‘crimes’ in court as there are no known laws he broke.
Besides the legal system that failed them, many also struggled emotionally and psychologically after discovering their true identities. Many fathers too were left devastated at realising their children were not theirs.
With no specific crime to charge him with, the authorities were only able to revoke his medical license, a ‘punishment’ that meant little to Cline as he had already retired by then. Even the US$500 fine was more a rap on the knuckles than a justified punishment.
The documentary leans more towards the retelling of the victims’ stories and since Cline refused to be interviewed, the viewer is left feeling just as frustrated as the victims at not being given the answers to the doctor’s motives or to see any remorse for his actions, if indeed he had any.
While some have speculated that he was using his sperm to start his own religious cult of blue-eyed, blond-haired followers, it remains only a speculation. Whether Cline did this to create a superior race or as a sick experiment of his own remains a mystery.
Our Father was released on May 11 and is currently streaming on Netflix.