Author: TSA Press

 Dr Peter Magombeyi (Photo: Thom Pierce)

Magombeyi, who was abducted a month ago after leading demonstrations against the intolerable conditions that healthcare givers in Zimbabwe are working under, is recuperating in SA after seeking care for a medical condition associated with his abduction. He spoke to Maverick Citizen.

According to Dr Peter Magombeyi, the salaries of doctors in Zimbabwe have been slashed from $1,800 a month to a mere $80. This left doctors unable to sustain themselves and their families. Many of them cannot even afford to pay for transportation. The drastic salary cut was never communicated to doctors officially: the news came via an SMS notification.

The decrease in salaries is speculated to be a consequence of switching from the US dollar to the RTGS dollar, Zimbabwe’s new currency. With the prices of essential commodities soaring by nearly 1,000%, Zimbabwe’s economy is at an all-time low, leaving most of the population unable to afford basic living expenses.

Resources such as fuel are scarce, and the country is in the throes of rolling power cuts, some lasting up to 18 hours. Many patients have been turned away from their surgical appointments because of the power cuts and those on life support are in a precarious position, to say the least.

In the midst of severe economic unrest, the Zimbabwean healthcare system has collapsed. Just under 2,000 doctors serve a population of 14-million, who are largely unemployed.

“This collective job action is not a strike; we are incapacitated,” said Magombeyi.

Magombeyi, who practises as a doctor at the Harare Central Hospital, said the current working conditions of healthcare practitioners were tantamount to slave labour.

“Imagine being in a hospital that accepts all referrals, and then not having things as simple as gloves or bandages. Patients have to buy and bring their own test tubes,” Magombeyi said.

In some instances, patients are forced to buy medication privately. “We don’t even have Paracetamol,” Magombeyi said. Paracetamol is the most basic pain medication. Millions of Zimbabweans who rely on the public healthcare system bear the brunt of the under-resourced facilities as they are unable to access the private healthcare system.

“The private system is for the rich and politicians, and they often have the option of flying out of the country to access healthcare,” said Magombeyi.

He described the situation in Zimbabwean hospitals as a “silent genocide”.

“Our government is averse to truth-telling. When we speak out about what is happening, we are labelled as a third force trying to destabilise the country; if you tell the truth, you become an enemy of the state. We can no longer subsidise the government, our people must know exactly what is happening.

“The government should have policies that enable us to look after the population, and that is not happening. We subscribe to the codes of health practice that outline that we cannot do harm to our patients. If the government does not create policies that allow us to execute our duties in a safe manner, then our patients’ lives are at risk.”

The public healthcare system in Zimbabwe has become dysfunctional even at the lowest level of care. The primary healthcare system is severely incapacitated, forcing their referrals onto even more incapacitated central hospitals, which are supposed to cater to the needs of patients from all over the country.

“There are very high rates of death linked to HIV/AIDS as well as chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Thousands of people have died,” Magombeyi lamented.

On 21 October, doctors in Zimbabwe had been on an “incapacitated” demonstration for 50 days. None of them has received a salary since they embarked on demonstrations against the government. Magombeyi said the government had refused to respond to the healthcare crisis with any degree of urgency. He criticised the state for skirting around the issue of remuneration of healthcare givers.

He further refuted government claims that there were only five doctors who were disgruntled with the state of affairs and influencing other doctors to take part in the demonstrations.

“How can 1,600 doctors be influenced by five people? Our requests are not a matter of greed, we are not being unreasonable either, our patients are dying. Thousands have already died. If we don’t advocate for them, who will?” asked Magombeyi.

Despite the doctors’ continued action of incapacitation, Magombeyi clarified that the collective job action was structured so that emergency cases were still attended to.

“It’s not that we are all on leave at once. We have doctors on call to attend to life-threatening cases. If a patient is identified as baton red, they are attended to. We are an essential service and we honour those ethical engagements.”

Doctors and the government are at a stalemate, as doctors continue their collective job action awaiting a favourable resolution to address their dire situation. MC

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Four years ago, breast cancer claimed the life of her mother. Now, 34-year-old Thembi Bhebhe, a high school teacher by profession, is battling cervical cancer, bed-ridden at her Harare home, the Zimbabwean capital.

In Chitungwiza, a town 25 kilometers (16 miles) southeast of Harare, 46-year-old Megan Saruwaka, a mother of four, is battling breast cancer, which she says doctors have classified as having reached stage four, meaning it has reached its advanced stage.

Breast cancer has become Zimbabwe’s new health headache, and it is not alone, having teamed up with cervical cancer, becoming the poor country’s loathed twin evils in the health sector.

Hammered by one of the two, now Megan’s situation is beyond redemption, she said.

“I’m in pain, dying is better, I wait for my day to rest from this pain,” Megan told Anadolu Agency as she winced in pain, lying in bed in her room as despondent loved ones encircled her.

For any cancer patients like Megan and Thembi, “what decides the treatment depends on the stage of the cancer,” according to oncologist Patrick Hungwe in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city.

“Each stage is cured differently, with early breast or cervical cancer detection, one can be saved before cancer cells start spreading throughout the lungs, liver and the brain,” Hungwe said.

For Thembi, even as she hopes for chemotherapy treatment sessions, her hope of survival is slowly fading away as Zimbabwean doctors have remained on strike for over two months now, demanding increased wages.

“There are no doctors at hospitals and I can only afford to be treated at government hospitals. I’m afraid the absence of doctors reduces my hopes to win against cancer,” Thembi told Anadolu Agency.

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the number of annual cancer deaths globally reached at 8.2 million, adding that the numbers were expected to triple by 2030.

With breast and cervical cancers as the country’s twin evils haunting hundreds of women here like Thembi and Megan, the Health and Child Care Ministry says approximately 1,500 women are succumbing to cervical cancer each year.

Not only that, but Zimbabwe’s Cancer Association says breast cancer alone is claiming more than one thousand women every year in the southern African nation.

Even health experts here concur cervical and breast cancer have wreaked havoc in Zimbabwe.

“You would realize that because of poverty and lack of knowledge many women are discovering too late that they have breast or cervical cancer; women are delaying to be screened for these cancers and that is why we are having many of them succumbing to the diseases,” Hillary Goto, a private oncologist based in Harare, told Anadolu Agency.

But women rights activists here have blamed government for the deaths of their colleagues from breast or cervical cancer.

“Government is solely responsible for the lack of service in hospitals and that means cancer patients like women with breast or cervical cancer are at the receiving end of the crisis in hospitals as they die before getting help,” Linet Chaota, a member of the NGO Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), told Anadolu Agency.

Cancer Association of Zimbabwe is currently carrying out a month-long free cancer screening as part of commemorations of the World Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is observed in October across the world.

WOZA is a Zimbabwean civic movement formed in 2003 to provide women from all walks of life with a united voice to speak out on issues affecting their day-to-day lives, according to Amnesty International.

“Some well-to-do women cancer patients are having to cross to neighboring countries like South Africa to seek treatment,” according to women rights defender Chaota.

But, the likes of Thembi and Megan are having to bear the brunt of the disease holed up in their homes, because to Chaota, “many women suffering from either breast or cervical cancer can’t afford to seek medication outside the country”.

“The poor are just dying in their homes with no care or treatment,” said Chaota.

According to Zimbabwe’s Cancer Registry, from 6,548 registered cases of cancer in 2013, figures have shot up to 9,220 in 2018.

For breast cancer, registered cases went up from 246 to 487 in the same period, the same time period that the disease caught up with many like Thembi and Megan.

Out of 2,062 recorded cancer-related deaths so far in Zimbabwe, breast cancer has been responsible for 7% of the fatalities, with cervical cancer being the highest killer accounting for 13% cancer deaths in the country.

Meanwhile, the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe has been on record in the media saying breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers today, with the number of cases worldwide having significantly rose since the 1970s.

Both the Senate and the National Assembly Resume Sittings Today

Note:  The President has declared Friday 25th October a public holiday

to allow Zimbabweans to attend solidarity against sanctions on Zimbabwe events.

Coming up in Parliament

The Second Session of this Parliament – the Ninth Parliament of Parliament [and second Parliament under the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe] was officially opened by President Mnangagwa on Tuesday 1st October at a joint sitting of both Houses.  The President delivered a State of the Nation address [link] during which he outlined the Government’s legislative agenda for the session.  After the joint sitting both Houses reconvened briefly before adjourning until today.

MPs have not, however, been idle in the interim – they have been attending committee meetings and engaging members of the public at public consultations on Bills and the forthcoming 2020 National Budget.  Yesterday they attended a pre-Budget briefing in preparation for their coming labours on the 2020 National Budget – including the detailed pre-Budget Seminar at Victoria Falls scheduled for 30th October to 4th November.

The presentation of the 2020 Budget by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development will be on Thursday 14th November.

Today’s agenda

As today’s sittings will be the first working sittings of the new session and as all unfinished business of the First Session, including uncompleted Bills, lapsed at the end of that session, the agenda for this afternoon’s sittings is very brief.  It is the same in each House: the moving of the customary beginning-of-session motions expressing loyalty to Zimbabwe and respectful thanks to the President for the speech that he delivered when opening the new session on 1st October.

Upcoming Business

Unfinished business from the last session it is likely that motions will be put, and approved, that Bills be restored to the Order Paper at the stage reached in the last session:

Education Amendment Bill

Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Bill

Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill

Coroner’s Office Bill

Marriages Bill

New Business, for example, tabling of three recently gazetted Bills so that they can go for consideration by the Parliamentary Legal Committee:

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill

International Treaties Bill

Constitutional Court Bill

The Government’s Legislative Agenda for the Second Session

Twenty-six Bills were listed by the President in the Government’s legislative agenda for this session.  We have divided the list into the following parts and indicated the Bills that have already been gazetted or are awaiting gazetting, having been sent to the Government Printer for printing and gazetting:

Bills repeated from the legislative agenda for the First Session

1. High Court Amendment Bill
2.  Public Finance Management Amendment Bill
3.  Gold Trade Amendment Bill
4. Precious Stones Trade Amendment Bill
5. Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill
6. Freedom of Information Bill [already gazetted]
7. Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill [already gazetted]
8. Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill
9. Cyber Crime and Cyber Security Bill [awaiting gazetting]
10. Data Protection and Electronic Transactions Bill
11. Child Justice Bill
12. Mandatory Sentencing for Rape and Sexual Offences Bill
13. Immigration Bill.

Bills appearing on the legislative agenda for the first time

14. Labour Court Bill
15. Magistrates Court Amendment Bill
16. Police Bill
17. Insurance and Pensions Commission Amendment Bill
18. Pension and Provident Funds Amendment Bill
19. Securities and Exchange Commission Bill
20. Deposit Protection Corporation Amendment Bill
21. Competition Amendment Bill
22. Petroleum Amendment Bill
23. Medical Aid Societies Bill
24. Persons with Disabilities Bill
25. Private Voluntary Organisations Bill
26. Prisons and Correctional Services Bill

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

This is the interview the MDC Deputy National Spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka had with the ZBC on Friday, 18 October 2019. ZBC in its wisdom or possibly lack of it decided not to flight the interview.

By grit and determination, brains, courage, compassion and a fiery commitment to justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most respected, and most beloved, jurists of our time. She inspires women and men of all ages to realize that a democracy thrives to the extent that it provides every citizen equal footing to achieve their dreams. Justice Ginsburg has few peers in advancing the cause of human equality through the law.

— Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania and Berggruen Prize Juror, in remarks given following the announcement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the winner of the 2019 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture. Ginsburg was chosen from a pool of more than 500 nominees, and the $1 million award is given each year to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human ideals. “Throughout her career, Ginsburg has used the law to advance ethical and philosophical principles of equality and human rights as basic tenets of the USA. Her contributions have shaped our way of life and way of thinking and have demonstrated to the world the importance of the rule of law in disabling discrimination,” said Berggruen Institute Founder and Chairman Nicolas Berggruen. Ginsburg will accept the award in December, and plans to donate the prize money to charitable or non-profit organizations.

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Update on Statutory Instruments: Part 2

This bulletin continues where Bill Watch 52 of 16th October [“Statutory Instruments:  Part 1]” [link] stopped;  it will deal with Government Gazettes from SI 205/2019 of 20th September up to SI 221/2019 of 18th October.

But first we draw attention to Constitution Watch 8/2019 of 19th October [link] commenting on the implications of the High Court decision in the important case of Mlilo v Minister of Finance and Economic Development [link].  The judgment invalidated SI 2015 gazetted on 12th October 2018 – the statutory instrument that imposed the 2% transaction tax.  The government then made it lawful in the Finance No 2 Act gazetted on the 21st August 2019 and backdated it to the time the 2% tax was introduced.

This bulletin indicates three recent statutory instruments which amend Acts of Parliament  –their validity could be challenged in the High Court using the Mlilo decision as a precedent.

Gazette of 20th September 2019

Correction of maximum income tax rate to 40%

SI 205/2019 [link] which amends the Finance Act is the first of the statutory instrument that are open to challenge on the basis of Mlilo’s case.  The SI amends the income tax bands for the period 1st August to 31st December 2019, correcting the rate for the top taxable bracket to 40% from 45% specified in the Finance (No. 2) Act.  It has been plausibly suggested that the 45% may have been a typographical error in the Finance (No 2) Act, because the Budget Presentation itself specified 40%.  The change went undetected and uncorrected while the Bill was going through Parliament and a few days later appeared in the Finance (No. 2) Act.

Note: The Minister can easily resolve doubts about the SI’s validity by including in the next Finance Bill a clause confirming 40% as the highest income tax rate for the five-month period August-December 2019.  He will have the opportunity to do so when he presents the 2020 National Budget during November.

Insurance:  Increased minimum prescribed assets ratios for insurers

SI 206/2019 [link] is aimed at registered insurers.  It effectively doubles the minimum prescribed asset ratios, i.e., the proportions of an insurer’s total assets that must be held in “prescribed securities” such as stocks or bonds issued by the State, statutory bodies and local authorities [including, for non-life insurers, Treasury bills and similar short-term instruments] or other investments  approved by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.  The SI replaces SI 24/2016, the previous SI on the subject and goes into far greater detail than its predecessor on the penalties that can be imposed by the Insurance and Pensions Commission [IPEC] for non-compliance.

Note: A “prescribed assets” mechanism for insurers is usually justified as protecting policy holders against the consequences of injudicious investments by their insurers.  Another view, however, is that these prescribed assets were increased so that the State has access to more financial resources that would not otherwise be available to the State from investors from the money market.

High Court civil cases fees: correction of error

SI 207/2019 [link] corrects an error in SI 187/2019 [link] by replacing item 2 of the Schedule of fees [item 2 deals with court fees chargeable for a summons in civil cases claiming payment of money.

Persons who may lawfully acquire, possess and supply industrial hemp

SI 208/2019 [link] is a set of regulations, made by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in terms of section 161(g) of the Criminal Law Code, listing the following as persons who may lawfully acquire, possess and supply hemp:

• any “farmer” [the term is not defined] so authorised in writing by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement,
• the State or any of its organs on farms operated by the State or by any State organ,

as long as they are cultivating “industrial hemp” [there is a definition] for industrial purposes.  At least, that is how Veritas interprets the regulations, which could – and should – be much more clearly and tightly stated, given that the they are intended to create an additional class of persons exempted from the criminal penalties normally associated with possession of cannabis plants, prepared cannabis and cannabis resin.

Gazette of 23rd September 2019

New Standard Scale of Fines in ZWL dollars

SI 209/2019 [link] by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs amends an Act of Parliament – it repeals and replaces the First Schedule to the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.  The enabling provisions cited by the Minister – section 280 of that Act and section 24(1) of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 (No. 7 of 2019) – expressly confer the power to amend Acts of Parliament.  This SI, too, is open to challenge on the basis of Mlilo’s case.

It is important to remember that the new figures apply only to offences committed on or after the date the SI was gazetted, 23rd September.  Some examples of the new levels are: level 1 is ZWL$ 40, level 3 is ZWL$ 100 [the maximum fine to be imposed by a police officer for a petty offence under the admission of guilt procedure], level 14, the highest level, is ZWL$ 30 000.

Gazettes of 27th September 2019

ZWL dollar wages and allowances for Cotton Industry

SI 210/2019 [link] records a collective bargaining agreement fixing wages and allowances in the cotton industry, back-dated to 1st June.

Customs duty suspensions (1) disabled persons and (2) commercial tyres imported by approved importers

SI 211/2019 [link] fine-tunes the effect of the suspension of duty for motor vehicles imported for disabled persons by section 4 of the principal regulations, SI 257/2003.

It also modifies the suspension allowed on commercial tyres imported by approved manufacturers by section 9EE of SI 257/2003.

Prohibition on the use of forex in domestic transactions

SIs 212 and 213/2019 have already been covered in Bill Watch 50/2019 dated 29th September [link].

SI 213/2019, which amends the Exchange Control Act under the powers conferred on the President by the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act, is the third recent SI open to challenge on the basis of Mlilo’s case.

Gazette of 4th October 2019

Annual registration fees for land surveyors

SI 214/2019 [link] – new fees, stated in ZWL, for land surveyors, land surveyors-in-training and land survey technicians.

Local authority by-laws

SI 215/2017 [link] – Chiredzi Town Council By-laws amending rents and refuse removal charges for the “incorporated area”, i.e., the high density township/s administered by the council.

Customs duty

SI 216/2019 [link] – amendment of the duty rebate for food, soap and cosmetics manufacturers.

SI 217/2019 – a lengthy set of Suspension Regulations giving effect to the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community (EC) and Eastern & Southern Africa states (ESA).  Veritas is trying to obtain this to post in on the Veritas website.

Collective bargaining agreement: ZESA

SI 218/2019 [link] – temporary interim hardship allowances for ZESA Grades A1 to D2, January to March 2019.

Gazette of 11th October 2019

No statutory instruments were published in this regular Friday gazette.

General Notices

Those interested in the mining sector should note the 32 General Notices from the Mining Affairs Board.  These GNs notified applications to the Board for Exclusive Prospecting Orders for a variety of minerals in most of the country’s mining districts.  The Board has set a deadline of 1st November for receipt by the Board of any objections to the orders being granted.

Gazette of 18th October 2019

Statutory Instruments

Local authority by-laws – Masvingo RDC and Epworth Local Board

SI 219/2019 [link] – the Masvingo Rural District Council (Environmental and Natural Resources Conservation) By-laws, 2019 is a 32-page set of controls for many aspects of use of land and natural resources within the area of the council.

SI 220/2019 [link] – the Epworth Local Board (Dog Licensing and Control) By-laws, 2019 is marred by a meaningless final section 21 which assumes that section 4 restricts the number of dogs that an individual can own – but neither section 4 nor any other section contains such a restriction.

Defence Forces – Medical Professions Cadets

SI 221/2019 [link] – the Defence (Regular Force) (Nursing, Radiography, Pharmaceuticals, Physiotherapy, Laboratory Science, Veterinary Science and other Medical Professions) (Cadets) Regulations, 2019 is a brief set of regulations for the engagement of cadets studying to qualify for one of the professions listed.  Cadets will be engaged as privates, but be subject to specified provisions of the regulations applicable to Defence Force officers.  During university/college vacations they will be liable for military duty as determined by the Commander.  They will be responsible for all training, registration, living and other expenses incurred while studying.  On qualification they will be commissioned and be obliged to serve for a further five years.

General Notices

New Special Economic Zone in Selous for Karo Resources

GN 1838/2019 [link] notifies the declaration by the Special Economic Zones Authority as a special economic zone of “a portion of Selous covering 50 667 hectares located on land covered by special mining grants issued to Karo Zimbabwe Holdings (Pvt). Ltd.”

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

Earlier this year, we learned about the shocking case of Danielle Teuscher, and what she thought was the innocent activity of using a home DNA kit for her and her five-year-old daughter. You know, just like the rest of America is doing. Given that her child was conceived with the help of an unknown sperm donor, she thought it would be fun and informative to learn more about her daughter’s background and origins. She had no idea what a mess she was in for.

After the results to the DNA test came back, 23andMe identified a paternal grandmother of her daughter (aka the sperm donor’s mother) that was “open to contact” on the genealogy site. Teuscher sent a message through 23andMe’s portal, where she said that they were related and also open to contact. The surprised grandmother sent a confused message back. Teuscher apologized, and that was the end of their contact. It was not, however, the end of the saga to come. Two weeks later, Teuscher received a cease-and-desist letter from NW Cryobank, the sperm bank where she had purchased the donor sperm that had helped her conceive her daughter.

The letter notified Teuscher that she was in “flagrant violation” of the agreement she had signed with them. Pursuant to the liquidated damages clause barring such contact, the sperm bank said, they were entitled to at least $20,000 in damages from her. That was $10,000 for every breach whereby she failed to live up to her agreement that she would not “seek or make any effort to obtain any information not directly provided through NW Cryobank concerning the identity, background, or whereabouts of the Donor at any time and from any source whether directly or indirectly and/or by any means.” Wait, why two breaches? Well, the sperm bank counted merely having her daughter take a DNA test as one breach, and the message to the donor’s mother as the second breach.

It Gets Worse

The cease-and-desist letter didn’t just mention the $20,000. It also stated:

Moreover, we hereby notify you that as a direct result of your flagrant and material breach of the Agreement we are revoking your right to receive the four (4) additional vials of Donor’s sperm that you purchased. No refund will be given.

(The letter was wrong. Teuscher actually still had five vials of sperm, not four, still at the bank.)

The sperm also cut off Teuscher’s access to her online portal — unless she signed another agreement with the bank severely limiting her rights to testing purchased DNA and exonerating the bank for not providing medical information to donor recipients. The portal is used to access any updated medical information from the donor, as well as to communicate with other parents who conceived children using the same donor. Teuscher was now — absent signing the new agreement — unable to access any medical updates that could affect her child’s health.

Mom Sues Sperm Bank

Like any good American, what else could Teuscher do but, of course, sue. This summer, Teuscher filed suit against NW Cryobank in federal court in the Eastern District of Washington. Her arguments are thought-provoking and compelling.

Can They Take the Sperm Back?!

In her lawsuit, Teuscher is asking the court to grant an injunction against NW Cryobank for an immediate return of her property — the donor sperm vials. To her, the vials are her potential future children, fully genetically related to her daughter. She notes that nowhere in any of the agreements she signed with the sperm bank did it specify they could confiscate the sperm they were storing. They could, under the storage contract, terminate their duty to store the client’s gametes when “the customer or their doctor requests the release of the gametes, upon the written direction of the customer to destroy the gametes, or when payment is not delivered to NW Cryo.” Those conditions all seem fair. But none of those circumstances apply here.

Thirty years ago, in York v. Jones, a federal court established a now well-examined and frequently followed precedent concerning property rights to embryos. The court ruled against a fertility clinic that refused to release a couple’s embryos to them to be transferred to another clinic. The court deemed the clinic a “bailee,” and required it to return the plaintiffs’ property. Here, Teuscher clearly had ownership rights to the sperm specimens she purchased. NW Cryobank, like the Jones clinic, was merely holding these vials in storage, as a bailee. I’m not sure where NW Cryobank believed they derived the right to dispossess Teuscher of her property, even if she did violate their agreement.

Violations of Public Policy?

Teuscher further argues that the court should find that it’s against public policy for the sperm bank to prevent a donor-conceived person (or their parent on their behalf) from accessing their DNA information. She points to declarations by the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office in their Family Health History campaign encouraging everyone to trace illnesses suffered by blood relatives in order to assist their doctor in taking action to protect their health.

I can see NW Cryobank’s argument against contacting the sperm donor’s relatives. But it seems seriously problematic to claim that it was a violation of their contract to merely take the DNA test in the first place. We have a right to our own information, right? DNA, by its very nature, also reveals interconnected information about others. This, admittedly, has led to a number of problems and more information than anyone ever anticipated coming to light. But blocking off access to this type of critical information cannot possibly be the right answer.

I empathize that sperm banks previously assured their donors anonymity, and now those assurances are worthless. Clearly all sperm banks (and those facilitating egg and embryo donations) need to have long ago stopped making such assurances. Everyone now knows anonymity is not a promise anyone can keep. My unsolicited advice for sperm banks: when these situations arise, don’t go nuclear on your purchasers and their children. Explain to the donors, when they complain, that the world has changed. Information is out there. Offer mental health and educational resources on being a donor now identified by offspring. You can pay for those services with all the money saved from not sending cease-and-desist letters and not needing to defend against Teuscher-type lawsuits.

Ellen Trachman is the Managing Attorney of Trachman Law Center, LLC, a Denver-based law firm specializing in assisted reproductive technology law, and co-host of the podcast I Want To Put A Baby In You. You can reach her at babies@abovethelaw.com.

A third woman has come forward to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with allegations about the inappropriate behavior of former DLA Piper partner Louis Lehot. Leah M. Christensen, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law and former Professional Responsibility Counsel within the firm’s Office of General Counsel, claims Lehot acted like a “textbook bully” and was allowed to get away with it because of the size of his book of business, saying:

Lehot is a textbook bully. There is simply no other way to describe him. He bulldozed his way through DLA Piper like a tank, rolling over anything or anyone in his way. In order to get his way, Lehot yelled, threatened, intimidated and terrorized people around him. I know because I was one of the people around him.

She also says that when, in the course of her work, she spoke with Lehot about his interpretation of an ethics rule, he lashed out calling her a “dumb bitch”:

For example, one time when I told Lehot that he was not following the ethics rules, in front of other DLA staff, Lehot called me a “dumb bitch.” I reported Lehot’s abusive conduct and “loose” interpretation of the ethics rules during our weekly department meetings to my boss, Peter Lindau, Assistant General Counsel, and to Joe Davis, Associate General Counsel. Nothing was done.

The allegations against Lehot are starting to pile up. Earlier this month, DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero alleged that Lehot repeatedly sexually assaulted her. She asked the firm to release her from their mandatory arbitration agreement so she can pursue her claims in court. The firm has been conspicuously silent on the forced arbitration agreement — despite the attention their arbitration stance in this case has garnered, but, they did announce that Lehot had been let go from the firm. But the firm also put Guerrero on administrative leave, saying they’d uncovered allegations against her unrelated to Lehot during their investigation of her claims. Lehot released a statement contesting the allegations against him and saying Guerrero was “exploiting” the #MeToo movement. Then a second woman, an anonymous HR manager, came forward with her own allegations against Lehot, saying he made her “physically afraid,” and further alleging the firm let her go when she complained about Lehot.

As part of Christensen’s letter to the EEOC, she also says she’s been contacted by other women at the firm who’ve had similar experiences with Lehot but are “too scared” to come forward.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).