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Insurer must defend doctor accused of ‘fertility fraud’ - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Insurer must defend doctor accused of ‘fertility fraud’ by Richard Sine E&O Apr 8, 2026 A medical malpractice insurer must cover the defense costs of a Connecticut doctor who allegedly used his own sperm during in vitro fertilization procedures without his patients’ knowledge, a state appellate court ruled. In Integris Insurance Co. v. Tohan, the Connecticut Appellate Court reversed a lower court ruling that had let Integris Insurance off the hook. The ruling was released Tuesday. The case stems from a jarring discovery: in 2019, two strangers in their thirties learned through consumer genetic testing that they are half-siblings, and that Dr. Narendra Tohan, the fertility specialist who had treated their respective parents decades earlier, was their biological father. Dr. Tohan’s defense said he mixed a donor’s sperm with the father’s and that the “mixed sperm method” was a common practice at the time, according to the ruling. The two filed a civil lawsuit in 2021 alleging negligence, fraudulent concealment and unfair trade practices. Integris, which had issued the doctor a medical professional liability policy, denied coverage, arguing its policy excluded coverage for intentional acts and sexual conduct. The trial court sided with Integris, but the appellate court disagreed, finding that the insurer had failed to show the exclusions applied to every allegation in the complaint. The negligence count, the court noted, included a specific claim that Dr. Tohan had unknowingly passed on a genetic disease, a claim with no intentional or sexual dimension. Writing for the unanimous panel, Judge Nina Elgo concluded that Integris had not cleared the high bar Connecticut law sets for insurers seeking to invoke exclusions. Under that standard, an insurer “is only entitled to prevail under a policy exclusion if the allegations of the complaint clearly and unambiguously establish the applicability of the exclusion to each and every claim.” The court also pushed back on the insurer’s broader argument that impregnation is inherently sexual, asserting that IVF is a medical procedure. The court said Integris could have explicitly excluded such conduct. It returned case to the trial court, where Integris must provide the doctor with a defense while coverage questions are further litigated At least 50 doctors in the US have been accused of fraud related to donating sperm, according to Right to Know, an advocacy group. States including Texas, California and Florida have passed fertility fraud statutes, but there is no federal law criminalizing it. Related News Ski pass or pass on skiing? 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