Woman Discovers Her Real Father Was Her Parents’ Fertility Specialist

Biologists James Watson and Francis Crick are credited with having discovered the structure of DNA. This discovery has paved the way for medical and scientific breakthroughs for combatting disease, using fingerprinting in criminal cases, modifying food, and giving the world Jurassic Park. Over the last 65 years, we have come to rely on DNA to tell us who we are – and who our ancestors were.

Home DNA kits are both popular and relatively inexpensive to use, but they can have unintended consequences – just ask Kelli Rowlette. Fox5 DC reported that the 36-year-old woman found out, by sending her DNA sample to Ancestry.com, that her father was not who she though he was. The test results concluded that a doctor at the fertility clinic her parents attended had switched out his own sperm for her father’s.

Ms. Rowlette informed her parents (Howard Fowler and Sally Ashby) of the Ancestry.com results in October 2017. When the parents saw that the name of the biological father was listed as Gerald E. Mortimer – the fertility doctor –  they began an investigation. Upon making the connection between the name Mortimer and the fertility doctor, the parents filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor. The lawsuit claims that the fertility doctor failed to inform the parents that the doctor’s sperm would be used instead of that of a donor. They accuse the doctor of fraud and knowingly hiding that his sperm was used in the fertility process.

At the time of the original fertility procedure, Mr. Mortimer worked for the Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates of Idaho Falls. The fertility company is also named as a defendant.

The history of the parents’ relationship with the fertility doctor

The parents initially agreed to mix the sperm of the husband with a matching donor when Dr. Mortimer told them Mr. Fowler had a low sperm count. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that Dr. Mortimer only used his sperm to fertilize Ms. Ashby’s egg; Fowler and Ashby assert that they thought the mixture would be composed of 85% of Mr. Fowler’s genetic material and 15% from a matching donor. The match was based on criteria established by Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler.

Fowler and Ashby’s claim alleges “battery, fraud, intentional and negligent emotional distress, breach of contract and medical negligence, among other charges,” per TIME.com.

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