Sperm Donor With Deadly Defect Fathers 24 Kids

A teenager inherited a "ticking time bomb in his chest" from a sperm donor father who failed to inform sperm banks that he had a rare and often fatal genetic heart defect as well as the inherited condition Marfan's syndrome. The man fathered at least 24 children through three sperm banks. Advocates say the case highlights the need for America to start regulating the fertility industry more tightly and create a national registry for donors and their offspring, ABC News reports.

"There are no rules or regulations about donor identification, testing donors, monitoring numbers of children or medical records," said the founder of the Donor Sibling Registry. "No one is watching. There are no laws. They don't keep track." Washington is currently the only state where donor-conceived people have the right to know the medical history of their biological parents. (More sperm donors stories.)