A longtime Oʻahu obstetrician is under renewed scrutiny over allegations that he secretly used his own sperm to inseminate patients in the 1990s, a case that has exposed a troubling legal blind spot in Hawaiʻi. The controversy, which first surfaced in a lawsuit five years ago and flared up again after a recent social media post, has families and advocates asking how something that feels so plainly wrong can be so murky under state law.
The allegations and the court record
The case centers on a 1993 insemination and a 2019 lawsuit filed by Victoria Snyder, who says genetic testing later showed that her children were fathered by her doctor, William McKenzie. According to Honolulu Civil Beat, the parties agreed to dismiss the suit with prejudice on April 30, 2020. McKenzie denied the allegation, and he retired in 2021 after a long career delivering thousands of babies. Civil Beat also reported that the story only resurfaced in a big way this spring, after a social media post by someone identifying as a former patient began circulating.
Why Hawaiʻi's laws fall short
Legal experts and prosecutors told Honolulu Civil Beat that existing criminal statutes, including sexual assault and fraud laws, are tough to apply to this kind of deception. Former federal prosecutor Loretta Sheehan put it bluntly in the Civil Beat story: “They did not consent to have him put his sperm... into their bodies.” That line has become a rallying cry for victims and attorneys who say the law has not caught up with modern fertility medicine. Prosecutors told the outlet that charges tied to deceptive business practices or fraud might be the most realistic options when courts and professional boards do not have a specific fertility fraud law to lean on.
Federal fix could create a criminal path
In Washington, lawmakers have introduced bills that would make it a federal crime to knowingly misrepresent the source of DNA used in assisted reproduction. The Protecting Families from Fertility Fraud Act and similar proposals are listed on Congress.gov. National coverage has followed efforts to reintroduce those measures this spring, including a Capitol crackdown on fertility fraud story that highlights proposed penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Supporters argue that federal charges would give prosecutors a clear path in states where the law is silent or inconsistent.
How big is the problem nationwide?
Cases like this have been surfacing across the country as consumer DNA tests become almost as common as holiday gifts, forcing many families to rethink their medical and genetic histories. A peer-reviewed review in Frontiers in Genetics documents multiple high profile examples and links the spike in discoveries to direct-to-consumer genetic testing and new genealogical tools. Advocates say the damage is multilayered, involving not only betrayal and loss of trust but also medical risks for children who lack accurate family health histories and the social shock of suddenly learning about unexpected half-siblings.
What victims can do now
Even without a specific fertility fraud statute in Hawaiʻi, victims still have some civil options. Lawyers point to potential medical malpractice claims, battery allegations, unfair or deceptive practice suits, and complaints to the state medical board. Hawaii’s malpractice rules generally give plaintiffs two years from the time they discover the injury, with a six year outer limit, as summarized by Recording Law. Those deadlines heavily influence how attorneys approach long latency cases that may only come to light decades later through DNA testing. Many disputes, advocates say, either end in confidential settlements or may ultimately hinge on whether lawmakers create clearer civil and criminal remedies.
What comes next
The McKenzie case has already sparked calls for new legislation and closer scrutiny of how Hawaiʻi’s medical board handles complaints involving fertility care. Whether change arrives through a state law, a federal statute or tougher licensing enforcement, victims and advocates say the goal is the same: enforceable, transparent rules so families are not left navigating a legal gray zone years after the harm allegedly occurred.
