Geneticist found guilty in baby selling scheme

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7358.238/f

BMJ 2002;325:238 ( 3 August )

News extra

Geneticist found guilty in baby selling scheme

Carl Kovac Budapest

The prominent Hungarian geneticist Dr Endre Czeizel was found guilty in a Budapest court last week of four counts of being an accessory in a transatlantic infant adoption scheme in violation of Hungary�s Family Act.

Dr Czeizel was given an 18 month prison sentence, suspended for two years. Under the Hungarian Criminal Code he faced up to eight years behind bars. Eight codefendants were also found guilty of participating in the operation. Six were given suspended sentences ranging from three months to two years, and two were given reprimands.

The defendants and their solicitors have appealed for acquittal, while the prosecutor�s office has requested more severe punishment.

According to court records Dr Czeizel was charged with encouraging pregnant women, most of them poor rural women, to give up their newborn babies for adoption in the United States in exchange for a trip there, where they would enjoy a few weeks of upmarket accommodation, give birth, and be paid for handing over their infants.

Dr Czeizel�s co-conspirator, prosecutors said, was Marianna Gáti, a Hungarian with US citizenship currently living in the United States. Prosecutors said Dr Czeizel met Gáti in Budapest 10 years ago, and they devised a plan whereby the doctor would offer pregnant women the opportunity to make money by giving up their children for adoption in the United States.

The prosecutor�s office said Gáti, together with social workers and lawyers, set up an organisation to arrange adoption of Hungarian babies for US couples, charging them tens of thousands of dollars for her services.

According to court records the scheme came to light after several of the women complained they were paid much less than they were promised. They were paid between $1000 (£634; €999) and $8000. Dr Czeizel�s personal secretary, Zoltán Merhala, and Gáti�s mother, Béláné Rózsa�two of the eight codefendants�were major players in the scheme, prosecutors contended.

Rózsa recruited pregnant women through advertisements, arranged for their passports and airline tickets, and provided lodging before their departure, prosecutors said. Rózsa was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years, for her role. Merhala received a 22 month jail term, suspended for three years.

Dr Czeizel steadfastly denied receiving any money for arranging adoptions. However, during last week�s sentencing hearing Judge Gábor Lassó read a letter from Gáti to Merhala saying "$500 is yours and $1000 to Dr C."

In 2000 Dr Czeizel and two British doctors won the prestigious $10 000 Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation international award for scientific research.

Dr Czeizel�s part of the award was deferred pending the outcome of his trial. A foundation spokesman said last week: "This matter will now have to go before the board, so there may not be a decision for a few weeks."