Information about hereditary diseases

Under the Danish Act of Artificial Fertilisation (Lov om kunstig befrugtning), we are obliged to ensure that you are aware of the following:

“When selecting donors, the risk of passing on hereditary diseases, abnormalities, malformations etc. has been limited as much as possible by only using donors who have indicated that they are not aware of any such hereditary risks in their family and who have been interviewed and examined by an experienced healthcare professional to determine this.

 Despite these special precautions, a hereditary risk cannot be ruled out entirely.

 If, against expectation, the child has a health disorder at birth or in his or her first years of life that you are told may be hereditary, it is therefore important that you notify the fertility clinic so that a decision can be made as to whether to continue to use the donor in question. The same applies if you are informed that the disorder may concern a communicable disease. Even though the donor has tested negative for communicable diseases such as HIV and hepatitis, the risk is never zero, and you can never check for everything.”

We should also point out that information may subsequently emerge about a hereditary disease in the donor which results in the donor being blocked and no longer being eligible for use. A donor may be blocked many years after the donation, as some hereditary diseases only manifest themselves late in the donor’s life. If your donor sperm treatment results in the birth of a child and subsequent information emerges about the donor which means that the donor is blocked in accordance with the current rules of the Danish Patient Safety Authority, you will be notified until the child turns 18. When the child turns 18, he or she may, in principle, be contacted directly.