Fertility clinics in occupied north Cyprus have been linked to a series of cases in which British families believe their children were conceived using the wrong sperm or egg donors during IVF treatment, a BBC investigation has found.
The BBC has spoken to the families of seven children who believe incorrect donors were used. Most families have completed commercial DNA tests which appear to confirm their fears. All cases are linked to clinics in the occupied north — a territory where EU law does not apply and which is recognised internationally only by Turkey.
The occupied north has become one of the most popular destinations for British people seeking fertility treatment abroad. Clinics there are loosely regulated, promise low prices and high success rates, and offer a wide range of anonymous donors — including procedures that are illegal in the UK, such as sex selection for non-medical reasons.
‘Had our clinic made a mistake?’
The BBC’s investigation centres on the case of Beth and Laura, a British couple who used IVF treatment at Dogus IVF Centre in the occupied north to conceive two children — Kate and James — using sperm from an anonymous Danish donor referred to as “Finn,” sourced from Cryos International, the world’s largest sperm bank. The couple paid an estimated £16,000 in total for their treatment, including £2,000 for the donor sperm.
From James’s birth, his parents noticed his dark eyes, dark hair and olive skin were very different from those of his biological mother and the donor they had selected. After nearly a decade of doubt, both children took DNA tests. The results indicated neither child had been conceived using Finn’s sperm — and that the two children were not biologically related to each other.
“We went from having this nice profile of donor Finn and feeling like we knew the family history and the health history, to just nothing,” Beth told the BBC.
Accredited DNA tests, which can be used in British courts, have since confirmed James and Kate are not biologically related. A leading forensic genetics expert who analysed all the tests told the BBC it is unlikely either child is biologically related to donor Finn.
The clinic and the doctor
Beth and Laura’s IVF treatment was carried out by Dr Firdevs Uguz Tip at Dogus IVF Centre. When the BBC contacted Firdevs, she said she had not been responsible for ordering sperm at Dogus and that no information about the request for donor Finn had been passed on to her. She also said she “did not perform IVF treatment” between 2011 and 2014 — the period when Beth and Laura were patients — despite detailed descriptions of procedures she offered during that time appearing on Dogus’s own website. She cast doubt on the reliability of the commercial DNA tests, saying it was not possible to conclude “with certainty” that the wrong donor had been used.
Dogus clinic has not responded to the BBC’s request for comment. The BBC also found two other British families treated by Firdevs at Dogus who are similarly suspicious that the wrong donors were used, and whose commercial DNA tests appear to confirm this.
By 2015, Firdevs and her patient coordinator Julie Hodson had left Dogus and were working together at another clinic in the occupied north. The BBC has also spoken to two further British families who were patients at Miracle IVF Centre — a clinic Firdevs set up in 2019 — and who believe they too received the wrong egg donors. Firdevs told the BBC that the choice of egg donors at Miracle IVF had been “made exclusively” by the clinic, that donor profiles never described a “specific person” and that this had been laid out in consent forms. The two families told the BBC they had believed they were choosing a specific donor and that it had never been made clear to them that the final choice would be made by the clinic.
Hodson has not responded to the BBC’s questions.
No independent regulator
Fertility specialists from across Europe told the BBC that while an incorrect donor being used accidentally once during an IVF procedure was rare, errors of this magnitude occurring more than once involving the same medical team could suggest “negligence” or even “deception.”
“It’s an absolutely appalling position for patients to be in,” Dr Ippokratis Sarris of the British Fertility Society told the BBC. “I’ve never heard of an incident like this in the UK. It is the biggest fear of any IVF unit to mix up an egg or sperm or embryo.”
Unlike the UK, the occupied north does not have an independent fertility regulator to monitor clinics, uphold standards or revoke licences. Lawyer and activist Mine Atli told the BBC: “Clinics who abide by the law do it because the owners have a good conscience. It’s not something that they are forced to do by the state.” Sarris said the absence of regulation — which keeps costs lower — is one reason why the occupied north has become such a popular destination for fertility treatment.
‘Identity is the main thing’
Two years have passed since Beth and Laura told their children what the DNA tests had revealed. James, now older, is still coming to terms with the discovery. “You can’t just say someone’s something and then they’re not. That’s bad,” he told the BBC. “Identity is the main thing. It’s who you are as a person.”
His sister Kate has taken a different view. “We’ve all grown up together and our mums have raised us,” she said. “We’re still a family even if it’s not by blood.”
“We have two amazing children,” Beth and Laura said. “At the end of the day, everyone will be ok.”
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