Did Doc Implant Own Sperm in Patient?

A Connecticut doctor was sued for allegedly using his own sperm -- instead of a patient's husband's -- for an artificial insemination procedure that produced twins.

CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports thatd the 2005 lawsuit was quickly settled for an undisclosed amount of money and sealed, so the family and doctor aren't commenting on the case.

But other patients who used the doctor to get pregnant are asking questions and contacting lawyers and so far, Wallace says, at least one attorney has come forward, saying he may ask a court to force the doctor to answer questions raised by the allegations.

The accusations against Connecticut Dr. Ben Ramaley surfaced after a month-long investigation by the Greenwich Time newspaper.

Reporter Debra Friedman discovered the suit filed by an unnamed family after a DNA test found that the husband wasn't the biological father of the couple's twin girls.

Friedman told CBS News, "They were a mixed race couple, the mother is white and the father is black. The twin girls, their complexion was so fair that it immediately caused concern to the parents."

Wallace says Ramaley is identified in the lawsuit as Dr. Roe. It reads, "Dr. Roe intentionally inserted his own sperm into (the patient), causing (the patient) to become pregnant and give birth to children biologically fathered by Dr. Roe."

Ramaley's attorney, Steve Errante, says his client denies using his own sperm -- and says the matter was a terrible mistake. "There was an error made, and this woman unfortunately was impregnated with sperm other than her husband's -- but not Dr. Ramaley's," Errante told CBS News.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health investigated and fined Ramaley $10,000 for using the "wrong man's sperm," but placed no restrictions on his license, and never ordered Ramaley to undergo a DNA test because, it said, it didn't have the authority to.

Friedman asserts, "There is one way to resolve this case and it's with a DNA test."

Wallace added on "The Early Show" that what remains a mystery -- because all the court records are sealed and a gag order is in place -- is what led the family to believe it wasn't just the wrong sperm -- but the doctor's sperm -- in the first place.

Why wasn't a DNA test ordered in this case?

CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom said on "The Early Show" it's "baffling" that the order wasn't issued either in the civil case or when the Connecticut Department of Public Health got involved.

"First," said Bloom, "there was the civil case and the couple in that case could have asked the judge while the case was ongoing to order a DNA test, but that case settled and so that disposed of it. Then, the Department of Public Health came in. Under my reading of their rules, they did have the authority to order the DNA test and they simply failed to do so."

However, Bloom added that the press may not know certain details, such as whether Dr. Ramaley is able to have children.

"It's very hard for me to understand why they would not order him to do the DNA test to get to the bottom of this, if anything to protect other people, other patients in his practice," she said.

Bloom pointed out that another concern is Ramaley's unrestricted license.

"Apparently, the Department of Public Health felt this was a matter of mislabeling, that he simply didn't have clear handwriting on the labels of the sperm bottles, and that it was simply a misunderstanding," she said. "A $10,000 fine is really a slap on the wrist to a doctor like this, and especially allowing him to have an unrestricted license, where he has unfettered access to other women in his community - that's very surprising."