A dangerous heart condition was passed on to at least nine children by a sperm donor.
The same donor was involved in the births of 24 children in the 1990's. One of the children died of heart failure by the age of two.
The condition is called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It can cause sudden death, or go unnoticed for many years. The sperm donor's condition was not diagnosed until after one of the children born through his donation was diagnosed.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports this is only the second documented case of a disease inherited through sperm donation.
Since the problems were revealed at the sperm bank in San Francisco, it has begun more intensive testing to detect men with genetic problems.
The report was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), October 21, 2009.
