Mum Suing Sperm Bank For Giving Birth To Dwarf When She Picked 6’Ft Tall Donor Instead

A woman is dragging a sperm bank to the court for giving birth to a baby that has been diagnosed with dwarfism. The woman, a writer in her 40s had reportedly chosen a 6ft tall donor after seeing pictures of men on the site. She underwent successful IVF treatment at a private Moscow clinic.

It was however, in the later stages of pregnancy, the unborn boy was detected with suspected achondroplasia, a rare incurable disease suffered by one child in 20,000 that causes dwarfism, a Moscow court heard. The unnamed woman’s fear was met after the birth of the baby son, now two, whom doctors say would grow to a maximum adult height of roughly 4ft, and that his limbs and facial features would not develop “correctly”.

The woman said she wanted to warn other sperm bank customers of the risk.

Koptevsky district court ordered the blocking of the website of Danish sperm bank Cryos in Russia, and ruled that using its services would go against Russian laws.

However only 20 per cent of cases of achondroplasia are hereditary and NHS report says that ‘anybody can be born with achondroplasia’ as it is a ‘random event’, with the condition caused by a genetic mutation that can occur when the egg or sperm is being formed.