Sperm donor anonymity case to proceed

A 28-year-old woman conceived through sperm donation has won the right to proceed with a lawsuit aimed at getting information about the donor.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has rejected a bid by the provincial government to block a lawsuit filed by Olivia Pratten, who was born in B.C. but now lives in Toronto.

Pratten wants the court to order the province to create a system that ensures sperm donor records are kept indefinitely and to prevent existing records from being destroyed.

Pratten, who said she's thrilled the suit will proceed, has been fighting for more than a decade to obtain records about her conception, arguing such information is vital to her own health.

The doctor whooversaw the sperm donation procedure for Pratten's mother insisted in court that he destroyed the relevant documents in the 1990s because physicians aren't required to keep patient records for more than six years.

Pratten and her mother don't believe the documents were actually destroyed, pointing to what they believe are inconsistencies in what the now-retired doctor has told them.