Panel Discussion on Dov Fox's Audiobook: Donor 9623 and the Biggest Hoax in Reproductive History

Location

Degheri Alumni Center

Cost

0

Join us for an evening with USD Law Professor Dov Fox, to discuss his audiobook, Donor 9623, about reproductive medicine, mental health, the power of law — and its limits — when the ones we count on the most let us down the hardest. It's a haunting tale of human resilience, the fragility of family, and what it takes to forgive the unforgivable. The eight-episode Part One was named Audible's top audiobook and podcast of the year, with a concluding Part Two (five episodes) released in 2023. 

The panel discussion will be moderated by

Margaret Dalton  - Vice Dean and Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law

Panelists:

Dr. Jillian Tullis Professor of Communication; and Director of Biomedical Ethics, University of San Diego

Dr. Jo Ellen Patterson Professor of Marital and Family Therapy, University of San Diego, and Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry, University of California San Diego 

Dr. Diane Keeling Associate Professor of Communication, University of San Diego and Producer of the podcast There's More

From the publisher:

When scores of aspiring parents turned to the fertility industry to start families, they chose a remarkable young man to be the biological father of their children. He was a music prodigy and gifted athlete who had a genius IQ, movie star looks, and perfect health. 

Except it was all a lie. 

In this tour de force of investigative reporting, host Dov Fox unravels the case of Donor 9623, examining the complex forces and competing agendas behind the biggest reproductive hoax of our time. The story is dark, propulsive - and in an unexpected turn - hopeful. This Audible Original exposes the billion-dollar industry that creates hundreds of thousands of babies every year, through unprecedented access to its key players - and to Donor 9623 himself. 

The 8-episode series raises hard questions about what we want when we set out to have kids - and what happens when we don't get it. It places us in the grip of life lived with crushing uncertainty. And unsettles our deepest understanding of what it means to be human. 

About Professor of Law Dov Fox

Professor Dov Fox is University Professor, Herzog Research Professor of Law and Director, Center for Health Law Policy & Bioethics at the University of San Diego. He's published more than 75 articles in leading journals of law (e.g., Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal), medicine (e.g., New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association), and public health (e.g., Foreign Affairs, American Journal of Public Health). His scholarship has been featured in popular outlets including The Atlantic, The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Professor Fox has also provided on-air analysis for CNN, ABC News, CBS This Morning, NBC Nightly News, and the Today show.  His latest academic books are "Birth Rights and Wrongs: How Medicine and Technology are Remaking Reproduction and the Law" (Oxford University Press, 2019) and "The Conscience of Care: Navigating Health in the Culture Wars" (Harvard University Press, forthcoming, 2024-25). 

MCLE

The University of San Diego School of Law is a State Bar of California-approved MCLE provider and certifies this activity is approved for 1.5 hours of General Credit.

DETAILS

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is appreciated.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 30th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 41st nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.