Posted on 09/18/2020 10:30:52 PM PDT by L.A.Justice
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Two lawsuits were filed Wednesday by families who have discovered that their fertility doctors secretly used their own sperm to inseminate the mothers of now-adult children.
In one case, a Livermore woman said that she wanted her sperm donor to be Christian and share her husband's ethnicity. She was horrified when she found out her daughter's biological father turned out to be her Jewish doctor.
The battery and fraud lawsuit against Dr. Michael Kiken, who most recently practiced in Lynchburg, Virginia, was filed in U.S. District Court in California. Another similar suit was filed against a La Jolla, Calif. doctor. Efforts to reach Kiken were not successful. Someone who answered the phone this week at the medical center where Kiken is listed as being employed said he doesn't work there.
Each suit, filed by San Francisco-based Adam Wolf, seeks unspecified monetary damages and for the doctors to reveal their personal medical history to the affected families.
In a virtual news conference, Wolf said the United States is “on the brink of uncovering thousands of fertility fraud cases,” mostly due to the result of the popularity of home DNA test kits like Ancestry.com and 23 and Me, based in Silicon Valley.
Wolf said he hopes the simultaneous lawsuits against the doctors will lead to federal and state anti-fertility fraud legislation. So far, Pew Trusts' Stateline noted that only three states have specific laws against the use of a practitioner’s own sperm to impregnate patients: California, Indiana and Texas.
One of the alleged victims, Katherine Richardson Richards, who lives in Livermore and who was one of Kiken's patients when he practiced in Alamo, Calif. said he violated her trust and essentially conducted "medical rape."
According to her suit, she had consented to be artificially inseminated with an anonymous sperm donor, who would resemble her husband in looks and ethnicity, which was Norwegian, Irish and English. The sperm donor would also share the couple's Christian faith, the suit states.
But her demands were not fulfilled, the suit alleges. Kiken, who used his own sperm to impregnate her, is Jewish. The suit states that Kiken was "much was much shorter than Plaintiff’s husband, slender, with brown eyes, and an olive complexion."
Richards said she was tricked.
"He secretly used his own sperm," Richards said of what happened in 1978. "Now I have to know that he violated me and that my children, who I love dearly, are the result of his disgusting conduct."
Her daughter, Julie Druyor of Dallas, who was conceived as a result, said she is “hurt, disgusted and confused.”
Druyor learned of the alleged deception and her father’s true identity after receiving a home DNA test kit as a gift. The test revealed she’s half Jewish. A genealogist helped trace the dots back to Kiken. She also learned she has a half-brother and she is a carrier for Tay Sachs, a rare disorder, which increases in people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors.
“I’m a product of my mother’s abuser,” Druyor said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever come to terms with that.”
Wolf, the attorney, said it is legal to make specific requests, even of someone's faith, in a sperm donor.
"People frequently ask for sperm donors that match themselves or their partners," Wolf said in an email to KTVU. "That can include things like height, education, and faith. This is very common. The more relevant part here is that the doctors explicitly agreed to provide sperm from a donor that met certain characteristics. And then they lied about this, and instead inserted their own sperm into their patients."
A similar situation occurred to Susan Simon in Oakland, who is not part of this lawsuit.
She, too, learned her biological father was her mother's fertility doctor and that she had 35 half-siblings around the globe after doing a DNA test a few years ago.
When she found out, she said she was shocked at first. And then a little numb. She wondered if she should be mad.
And then she realized that she wasn't an only child anymore. She had brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and a whole bunch of relatives to meet.
Eventually, her feelings changed to gratitude.
"I got excited," she said. "What a gift at this stage in life to suddenly find a new family."
“Christianity isn’t a genetic trait. I wonder if she’s just an anti-Semite.”
___________________________________
I think you may just have experienced what is commonly known as a ‘knee jerk reaction,’ gundog.
LOL
Think it through, please.
When a person is made self-aware of being Jewish either by their own testing or being reached out by new found family members, there is an additional pressure factor laid upon their shoulders.
Many of the Jewish community believe that simply being birthed by a Jewish woman deems a person must follow the Jewish faith and they are surprised and some quite upset if the newest member of the family doesn’t go down that path.
If that is compounded by the person living a strong Christian lifestyle and wishing to not only keep the Christian walk, but then to share his or her belief in Jesus.
Doctor’s are sworn to not harm their patients. The doctors violated that oath.
It’s quite simple. In this day of liberal cry babies and their inane attitudes, let’s not become one of them.
We are supposed to be above that type of behavior.
Oh, I recall that a story on that vein...
Some guy was doing it. I think, though, it was just a random thing and he didn’t care whose water bottle/s he did that to....
I think he was doing it with bottles that were in like a break room ‘fridge.
It was awful. Totally forgot about that one. Yuck, to the max.
No issue of maternal lineage in the story that I saw.
So, why do Christians run around evangelizing? Why mess with spiritual heritage?
Ego and hoping to grow success rates.
So many good lines to choose from in this article. I settled for this one because it’s a happy thought...
“...and that she had 35 half-siblings around the globe after doing a DNA test a few years ago....Eventually, her feelings changed to gratitude. “I got excited,” she said. “What a gift at this stage in life to suddenly find a new family.””
I can see it now...”Kids? You’ve got 35 new aunts and uncles. Be sure and hit them up for a graduation gift. Ask for cash.”
I’m guessing it’s too late to return the kids? Or was it an “as is” deal?
Hi, gundog-!
Didn’t mean to imply it was in the article.
Merely pointing out that as a possible reason (in general), why her concern would not be anti-semite.
Long ago I dated a doctor who was a sperm donor. When he was roasted after a 4 month term as Chief Resident in his specialty, one of the pictures showed a grade school class picture, boys and girls at their desks, with every child having his face. It was hilarious!
Fair enough. Maybe I’m too accustomed to looking for chinks...sorry...in liberals’ armor. Accusations of racism for conservative views probably contributes to that. One case comes to mind: the usual baseless accusations coming from a woman I went to high school with. Shortly after the accusation, she posted a picture of an infant grandchild. I resisted the temptation to post “Sure is pink. Must come from a long line of white supremacists.”
It’s to the point where I read this woman’s story with the eyes of the enemy.
“White nationalist, hetero-centric cis-gendered woman hates her half-Jewish child.”
Very harmful to the child, and wrong.
If you can’t conceive, adopt.
I wouldn’t get your theology from this woman. She used a man not a husband to impregnate herself. Normally many other embryos are killed in the process. There is nothing Christian about it.
The people who work there were documented as having fun “adding” ethnicity to people. Especially southern Caucasian people who were giving black ancestry just for laughs.
I definitely understand where you’re coming from, with that explanation.
:)
It just struck me as odd, coming from you. :) :)
Thank you, gundog, for your kind explanation!
No, I haven’t seen those “stories.” Got a link?
Lol, yes, always look for the bright side.
Very harmful to the child, and wrong.
If you can’t conceive, adopt.
______________________________
I thought about adoption also...I wonder if the lady ever thought about adoption...
Using the sperm from some stranger...It is kind of like having sex with that stranger...
I have read about lesbian couples using sperm from some stranger...
It happened in 1978, the doc is most likely retired now.
_________________________________________
The lawyer is thinking that he is still practicing in Virginia...
Yes and I think In vitro it is so harmful to the child. Every human being needs a mother and a father. Biology is important.
Being orphaned or having an incapable parent, necessitating adoption, is also harmful. However in that case it’s not a matter of social policy to create that situation, only to alleviate it through adoption.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.