- A mother is suing her fertility doctor, claiming he impregnated her with his sperm without her knowledge.
- She made the discovery when her daughter sent her DNA sample to a genetic testing website.
A mother in Idaho has claimed that a doctor used his own sperm to impregnate her without her consent over 30 years ago.
Sharon Hayes, 67, has filed a lawsuit against Dr. David Claypool after her daughter sent a DNA sample to a genetic testing website that helps people trace their ancestry.
In 2022, Brianna Hayes, who was 32 at the time, discovered that her mother's former obstetrician and gynecologist was her biological father after searching genetic records to explain her life-long health issues.
"It's been an identity crisis, for sure," Brianna Hayes told The Associated Press. "This was hidden from me my whole life. I felt traumatized for my mom, and the fact that I'm a product of his actions is off-putting."
She said her mother has struggled with the revelation, "She's a puddle this morning," Her mother suffered from "immense guilt," blaming herself for the situation, Brianna said. I told her, "You were just being a mom, wanting to be a loving mother.'"
She also discovered that she had 16 other half-siblings in the area who she had gotten to know. It is not clear if any other women are pursuing legal action against Claypool, according to the AP.
According to the complaint, Sharon Hayes went to Claypool to be artificially inseminated in 1989, seeking an anonymous sperm donor.
Claypool told her he would obtain genetic material from college and medical students who physically resembled her husband.
The doctor said it would cost her $100 in cash for the sperm donation each time she was inseminated, and she paid this sum several times, per the complaint.
The lawsuit notes that Claypool's physical characteristics were very different from those of Hayes' husband, which is what she had requested.
Hayes is suing him for fertility fraud, medical negligence, and failure to obtain consent, saying that Claypool knowingly concealed that he was using his own sperm without her consent.
The complaint says that Hayes has "experienced severe and traumatic emotional distress, sleeplessness, anxiety, and disruptions in her relationship with her daughters, as well as other damages."
Claypool denied knowing Hayes and her allegations while speaking to The Seattle Times.
"I know people are very happy," Claypool said about his past patients, per the outlet. "But this is the first I've heard of anything in 40 years."
In recent years, several similar stories have emerged about doctors fraudulently inseminating patients with their own sperm, fueled by the growth of online DNA services.
The Netflix documentary "Our Father" told the story of a fertility specialist in Indiana, who inseminated at least 94 patients with his own sperm, without their knowledge, in the 60s and 70s.
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, about four-in-ten US adults (42%) say they have used fertility treatments or personally know someone who has.