A fertility doctor already facing two lawsuits accusing him of lying and using his own sperm to impregnate women more than 40 years ago is now facing trouble from the state.
The state has leveled a six-count unprofessional complaint with the Vermont Board of Medical Practice against Dr. John Boyd Coates III. The civil charges include allegations of lying during an investigation of his actions and a “willful misrepresentation in medical treatments.”
“This conduct violates the trust inherent in the physician/patient relationship, which was a required component of the standard of care at the time these artificial insemination by donor procedures were performed,” the filing stated.
“It was a material nondisclosure,” the document added, “that resulted in the physician becoming a partner to reproductive activity with the patient without the patient’s informed consent.”
News of the state’s action was first reported by The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus on Thursday.
A hearing in the case, which had been set for last week, was delayed. No new hearing date was immediately available Thursday.
The case will be heard by a panel of medical board members, who will then forward the case to the full board for further consideration, said David Herlihy, the medical board’s executive director.
The state wants the board to permanently revoke Coates’ medical license, issue a reprimand and impose a monetary penalty.
A call to Peter Joslin, an attorney representing Coates, was answered by a person stating that the law office does not make it a “habit” to talk to the press, then hung up.
Cheryl Rousseau sued Coates in federal court in Burlington in 2018, alleging Coates lied to her when she went to him for fertility treatment over four decades ago. The suit accuses Coates of using his own sperm to impregnate her, and telling her he had used the sperm of a medical student.
Coates initially denied that allegation, but has since admitted using his own sperm, according to court filings in the case. The case is now headed to a trial, but only to determine the punitive damages that should be awarded to Rousseau.
Also, earlier this year, Shirley Brown sued Coates, making nearly identical claims against her former fertility doctor. That second lawsuit was brought after Rousseau’s daughter, now in her 40s, took out a newspaper ad in the Valley Reporter in Waitsfield.
“In Search of DNA Brothers and Sisters,” the ad read, seeking people born through Coates’ offices between 1976 and 2009, which included locations in Berlin and Burlington.
Brown’s daughter saw the ad and used DNA testing to find out about her biological father. In doing that research, using the results of DNA testing, she determined that Coates was her genetic father, the lawsuit alleges.
Jerry O’Neill, an attorney representing Rousseau, said Thursday that any action by the medical practice board will not have any effect on that lawsuit.
“He has been dishonest in statements that he has made in the course of depositions in our case,” O’Neill said of Coates. “I would expect that the medical proactive board would take that into account as well as his acknowledgement that he did use his own DNA to impregnate patients.”
