Fertility Fraud in Hawaiʻi: No Law Limits It

Hawaiʻi fertility – A Hawaiʻi lawsuit accused a long-practicing gynecologist of inseminating patients with his own sperm, highlighting legal gaps in state accountability.

A Hawaiʻi gynecologist once praised for delivering thousands of babies is now tied to accusations of fertility fraud—while state law offers few clear pathways to punish or deter the alleged conduct.

The allegations center on Victoria Snyder, who sought fertility treatment in the early 1990s from William McKenzie, a well-known OB-GYN on Oʻahu’s North Shore. Snyder requested insemination using sperm from an anonymous Filipino donor. The following year, she gave birth to twin boys.

Decades later. when the sons were 23. genetic testing told them their biological father was not the anonymous donor Snyder had selected.. Snyder filed a civil lawsuit in 2019 seeking damages, alleging that McKenzie used his own sperm without her consent.. McKenzie denied using his own sperm, according to court documents, and the case was resolved the following year.

Public attention arrived much later.. Last month. an Instagram user accused McKenzie of “artificially inseminating dozens of women with his semen. ” a figure the reporting could not independently verify.. The post drew hundreds of responses, including people who said they recognized him as a biological parent.

When contacted about the claim. the person who made the Instagram video declined to provide additional information that would substantiate the allegation and hid the video from follow-up reporting.. The lack of verifiable detail has left key questions unresolved. but the broader issue is clear: in Hawaiʻi. patients and families appear to have limited remedies when consent is allegedly undermined through deception.

Snyder’s lawsuit. filed in 2019. lays out the core allegation that she would not have agreed to the procedure had she known McKenzie planned to use his own sperm.. The complaint accused him of medical negligence, breach of contract and fraud.. McKenzie denied those claims in a court filing.. On April 30, 2020, the parties submitted a stipulation for dismissal with prejudice, meaning the claims cannot be refiled.. Terms of the dismissal—including whether any money changed hands—were not made public.

While the lawsuit involved Snyder and her children. family members from two separate families told reporting on condition of anonymity that they also had children fathered by McKenzie.. That suggests the twins may have multiple half-siblings.. McKenzie and attorneys connected to the case did not respond or declined to comment when approached.

Despite the controversy, McKenzie’s local reputation has remained strong for many years.. He practiced for more than five decades, delivering more than 9,000 babies, and his offices reportedly accumulated extensive positive reviews online.. In Wahiawā, he was described by some patients as attentive and personable, taking time to talk through medical concerns.. His offices are now closed, and he retired from private practice in 2021.

Fertility fraud and consent, experts say, can carry consequences that stretch beyond the medical procedure.. Legal experts and fertility fraud specialists interviewed for the reporting emphasized that offspring frequently learn the truth as adults—often through genetic testing—and may face gaps in medical history. along with the emotional fallout of discovering the deception.. One expert also argued that there are few cultural scripts for how families are expected to explain what amounts to a consent breach by a clinician.

The legal problem in Hawaiʻi is not simply whether the alleged conduct is harmful, but whether existing statutes can be made to fit.

Hawaiʻi has no specific law prohibiting fertility fraud.. Attorneys and legal experts said that existing criminal laws tied to sexual assault and fraud may be difficult to apply.. In particular. prosecutors could face hurdles in proving the deception meets legal definitions for criminal conduct. establishing the level of knowledge required. and showing that the act itself qualifies under Hawaiʻi’s definition of a sexual act.

Prosecutors also raised concerns about the kind of proof and court process such cases would require—especially when deception is embedded in a clinical procedure performed by a medical professional.. For some prosecutors, it could mean putting a victim through trauma without a confident path to a conviction.

Even where criminal charges are conceptually possible, experts said a different strategy may be more workable: pursuing the deceit itself rather than trying to shoehorn the act into sexual assault law.

One commonly discussed pathway is deceptive business practices. a misdemeanor in Hawaiʻi that can be charged when a merchant sells less than promised or mislabels goods.. Prosecutors could also consider other fraud-related offenses—though what is charged. and what penalties are available. would depend on the facts.

Civil remedies, meanwhile, may offer more room to maneuver.. Attorneys pointed to medical malpractice claims, including allegations that a doctor provided care below a nationally recognized standard.. In Hawaiʻi, malpractice claims generally face timing requirements tied to when the injury occurred and when it was discovered.. Experts also noted that in cases where the patient did not know harm was caused by deception. the statute of limitations may be paused until the wrongdoing is uncovered—an issue that could be especially relevant when genetic testing reveals the truth decades later.

The reporting also highlighted a further gap: a lawsuit accusing misconduct does not automatically trigger licensing discipline.. Hawaiʻi’s medical board can revoke or suspend a license for professional misconduct or ethics violations. but prosecutors and attorneys said board investigations can be limited when the licensing process receives only “cursory information” about lawsuit outcomes.

In McKenzie’s case. he was fined $750 for failing to inform the Hawaiʻi Medical Board about Snyder’s lawsuit when he applied to renew his license in 2019.. The fine was connected to disclosure obligations rather than to a finding that the underlying allegations were proven in a way that removed his ability to practice.

The state medical board knew about the Snyder lawsuit but did not take away his license.. Though McKenzie has retired, he still holds an active medical license.. The reporting notes that when asked whether the state investigated the allegations in Snyder’s case. the relevant state spokesperson did not respond. and the department declined interview requests.

Hawaiʻi is not the only place grappling with how to respond to fertility fraud. Legal experts described cases in other states where doctors were found liable in civil court but faced limited criminal exposure because existing statutes did not directly cover the conduct.

In Colorado. for example. an attorney representing multiple families pursued litigation after genetic testing suggested a doctor had fathered children through sperm fraud.. Prosecutors there told a similar story: without a statute directly targeting the conduct. the case could stall under criminal definitions. even when juries found liability and victims were awarded damages.. Insurance disputes and the distinction between intentional versus negligent conduct added another layer of complexity.

Against that backdrop, some states have begun to close the gap by creating fertility-fraud-specific statutes.. The reporting noted that Colorado later enacted two laws aimed at fertility fraud—one allowing patients and children to sue and another making the conduct a crime.. At least 14 states have taken similar steps, including Indiana, Texas and South Dakota, while other states were considering changes.

The push is also reaching the federal level. The U.S. House is weighing a bill that would make it a federal crime to knowingly misrepresent the nature or source of DNA used in assisted reproductive technology, if the conduct involves interstate commerce.

In Hawaiʻi, state Sen.. Karl Rhoads has urged legislation to create clearer criminal accountability. arguing that the concept should be broadly acceptable because many would find the conduct unacceptable.. Oklahoma is considering an even more sweeping approach. including treating fertility fraud as a felony with long prison terms. requiring doctors to register as sex offenders. and mandating license revocation after conviction—measures that opponents of the status quo argue would more effectively remove practitioners who violate trust.

For families living with the fallout, the underlying question remains the same: when deception undermines consent in fertility treatment, what laws can realistically reach the conduct, and what protections exist for victims who learn the truth only when genetic testing pulls it into the light?

Hawaiʻi fertility fraud William McKenzie reproductive deception medical malpractice consent genetic testing siblings sexual assault statutes limits