A Florida woman was awarded $5.25 million Wednesday in a lawsuit against her obstetrics and gynecology doctor, who impregnated her with his own sperm in 1977 instead of a donor's.

A federal court jury in Vermont ruled in favor of Cheryl Rousseau in her lawsuit against Dr. John Coates III with $250,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

"This could not have been done accidentally," said Jerry O'Neill, Rousseau’s lawyer. Rousseau and her husband, Peter Rousseau, originally sued Coates in 2018 for medical negligence, fraud, battery and other offenses.

Rousseau’s procedure was done at a hospital formally called Central Vermont Hospital in Berlin, Vermont.

The sperm donor that was agreed on was an unnamed medical student who "met specific characteristics" that aligned with the characteristics of Peter Rousseau, who could not impregnate his wife due to an irreversible vasectomy.

In October 2018, a DNA test showed Coates was the biological father. Coates had reportedly testified under oath in 2019 that he had had never used his own sperm in inseminations. He later admitted that he used his own sperm after the DNA results.

In February, Coates’ medical license was revoked.

He has also been accused of a similar offense by a Colorado woman, who sued him in 2021 for a procedure done in 1978.