A DNA test, seven half-siblings, and more than 90 children tied to one Doctor

The Donald Cline Fertility Scandal

AI-generated illustration with text overlay highlighting the scale of sibling discoveries linked to the Donald Cline case.

The First Shock

Jacoba Ballard grew up knowing she was donor-conceived. In 2014, she took an at-home DNA test hoping it might finally point her toward the donor and, maybe, a relative or two.

Instead, the results delivered something she was not prepared for.

Seven half-siblings. 

Not a rumor. Not a suspicion. A list of close relatives on a screen.

AI-generated illustration representing Jacoba Ballard, one of the first people to uncover the case through DNA testing.

The Pattern

Ballard began contacting matches and comparing the same basic questions.

Where were you conceived?

Which clinic did your parents use?

Who was the doctor?

Again and again, the answers led back to Indianapolis, and to one name: Dr. Donald Cline.

As more people tested, the list did not stay at seven. It kept expanding. TIME magazine later reported the number grew to at least 94 identified offspring.

What made it even more unsettling was how close many of them lived. A large number of the siblings were clustered around the Indianapolis-area region where the clinic operated, some within a short drive of each other.

AI-generated illustration of a mugshot-style portrait representing Donald Cline, the fertility doctor at the center of the case.

What Patients Were Told

Families have described believing donor sperm would be anonymous and medically screened, with limits on how donor material would be used. Those were the terms people thought they were agreeing to, until DNA results began telling a different story.

The Years It Happened

Accounts connected to the case describe the children being born primarily in the 1970s and 1980s, meaning many of the people who discovered each other through DNA decades later were already adults.

When It Could Not Stay Private

At first, the discovery traveled quietly through messages, screenshots, and careful comparisons between strangers who suddenly were not strangers at all.

Then the numbers started stacking.

A handful of half-siblings does not explain itself. A growing cluster does. And in this case, the explanation kept pointing back to the same doctor, over and over.

The Legal Wall

The central allegation was that Cline used his own sperm without patient knowledge or consent. But when the case reached prosecutors, the legal options were narrow. Reporting described how Indiana law did not specifically prohibit this conduct in a way that matched what families believed had happened, limiting what could be charged.

December 14, 2017: No Jail Time

On December 14, 2017, Donald Cline pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice. He received a one-year suspended sentence, meaning no jail time. Reporting also described a $500 fine.

Did Donald Cline Ever Speak Publicly?

Cline did not give a detailed public interview explaining what happened. What surfaced publicly was brief and largely tied to the court case. Reporting from the sentencing described him offering an apology and expressing remorse, but it did not provide families the kind of full explanation they were still seeking.

August 24, 2018: The License, After Retirement

Cline was already retired by the time the medical licensing consequences arrived. AP reporting stated he retired in 2009.

On August 24, 2018, he surrendered his medical license and the Indiana Medical Licensing Board barred him from ever seeking reinstatement.

How old was Donald Cline then?

At the time of his December 2017 sentencing, he was reported as 79. The license action followed in August 2018, and the same reporting described him as 79 during the licensing decision as well.

Civil Lawsuits and Money

The criminal case ended with obstruction charges, but the legal fallout did not end there. Families pursued civil action connected to the deception, and disputes continued to surface years later as courts weighed issues like timing and legal deadlines.

Was He Married With His Own Children?

Yes. Cline had a wife and children of his own.

Public accounts also describe the scandal reaching his home life, not just his clinic.

In Pop Culture

In May 2022, the story reached a much wider audience through Netflix’s documentary Our Father, which follows the DNA discovery and the growing sibling network.

: AI-generated illustration showing a dramatized doctor figure associated with the Donald Cline fertility scandal.

Why the Case Endures

This story endures because it begins with something ordinary.

A clinic. A trusted doctor. A promise of anonymity.

Then decades later, a DNA test revealed seven half-siblings, and the list kept expanding until it reached more than 90.

Not through a confession.

Through a match notification.

Case Facts

Location: Indianapolis area, Indiana

Birth era tied to the case: 1970s and 1980s

Discovery milestone: 2014 DNA test revealed seven half-siblings

Identified offspring reported: at least 94

Criminal outcome: Dec 14, 2017 guilty plea to two obstruction counts, one-year suspended sentence, no jail time, $500 fine reported

Medical outcome: Aug 24, 2018 license surrendered, barred from reinstatement Retirement: 2009

Age at license outcome: 79