BURLINGTON — An attorney grilled former Vermont fertility doctor John Boyd Coates III Monday over his repeated denials and later admission that he used his own sperm to impregnate a female patient more than four decades ago.
Coates took the stand to defend himself on the first day of a civil trial in federal court in Burlington. The former patient, Cheryl Rousseau, accuses Coates of lying to her by telling her the donor would be an unnamed medical student, who had characteristics she was seeking in a donor.
Instead, moments before the procedure took place, Coates entered an office, masturbated, returned to the exam room and used his own sperm to impregnate the woman, Rousseau’s attorney told the jury.
“You did not tell her it was going to be you?” Celeste Lamarie, Rousseau’s lawyer, asked Coates.
“I did not,” Coates replied.
According to the lawsuit Rousseau filed in December 2018, she went to Coates for fertility treatment over 40 years ago.
Rousseau brought the lawsuit after her daughter used the online sites Ancestry.com and 23andme.com in 2018 to find information about her biological father. The results from those sites, according to the lawsuit, led back to Coates as the sperm donor.
The multi-count lawsuit against Coates includes claims of breach of contract, battery and fraud.
The focus of the trial is not to determine whether Coates used his own sperm to impregnate Rousseau, but what damages she should receive for the alleged deception.
Laramie played video clips in court Monday of an earlier deposition in the case in which Coates repeatedly denied that he was the biological father of Rousseau’s daughter.
“Did you ever insert your semen into a patient?” Laramie asked Coates in the video.
“No,” Coates responded.
In the courtroom on Monday, Laramie told Coates: “We know that wasn’t true.”
“That’s correct,” the doctor responded from the witness stand.
Coates’ story changed, according to Laramie, when he was confronted with DNA results that showed with “99.99%” certainty that he was a genetic match with Rousseau’s daughter.
Laramie asked Coates why he initially tried to conceal the truth.
Coates replied that he didn’t remember using his own sperm, and didn’t recall Rousseau as a patient.
Laramie pressed Coates about why he initially opposed taking a DNA test, suggesting that he did so out of deceit.
“I viewed it as a tremendous intrusion of my privacy,” Coates said. He eventually took part in court-ordered testing.
During her opening statement Monday, Laramie told the jury that when determining damages they should compensate her client for that deception and punish Coates for his actions.
“Any confession you hear today from Dr. Coates will not undo the damage done,” Laramie told the jurors.
Laramie didn’t provide an exact figure she was seeking the jury to award, but said she would explain through the trial why a “large amount of money” was called for, in part, to deter other doctors from deceiving patients.
Peter Joslin, Coates’ attorney, told the jury during his opening remarks that his client never intended to harm a patient. “His whole goal was to help them,” Joslin said.
“Keep an open mind,” Joslin said to the jurors. “Make sure you do not prejudge anything.”
A second patient filed her own lawsuit against Coates with allegations similar to Rousseau’s, claiming Coates also used his own sperm to impregnate her despite telling her that the donor would be an anonymous medical student.
That lawsuit is pending.
Earlier this year, the Vermont Board of Medical Practice reprimanded Coates, revoking his medical license for “gross violation” of Vermont law and for misleading investigators.
Coates, now 80, retired from his medical practice several years ago.
Judge William Sessions told the jury in Rousseau’s case that he expected they could begin deliberations as soon as Tuesday.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Former fertility doctor takes stand, admits using own sperm to impregnate woman.