A physician living in Scottsdale is accused in a lawsuit of secretly and "maliciously" inseminating multiple patients with his own sperm.
The legal action filed Aug. 6 in Wisconsin Circuit Court says that Joseph Laedtke Heider, 43, recently discovered through Ancestry.com that Dr. Frederick Dettmann is his biological father and that he has multiple half siblings.
Heider discovered his connection to Dettmann after submitting a DNA sample to Ancestry.com, which revealed multiple half-siblings and a "direct genetic connection" to Dettmann's family, according to the lawsuit.
Heider filed the lawsuit, which alleges negligence, deception and emotional distress, among other things, along with his mother, Mary Ellen Lukezich, formerly known as Mary Ellen Laedtke.
In the lawsuit, Lukezich says she'd been led to believe her son was conceived with donor sperm from an anonymous medical student.
Dettmann lives in Scottsdale and, according to the Arizona Medical Board, has an active physician's license though there is no practice associated with his license. Dettmann's legal team on Aug. 14 did not immediately respond to The Arizona Republic's request for comment.
Medical board records say that Dettmann graduated from medical school in Wisconsin in 1960, that he completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle in 1962 and that he completed a fellowship in gynecological oncology at Ohio State University Hospital in Columbus, Ohio in 1965.
The source of the sperm
Sean Gaynor, with Milwaukee-based Gaynor Law Group, said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in June, when the allegations first surfaced, that Dettmann is aware of the family’s claims, but because of HIPAA and Wisconsin’s medical confidentiality laws, "he cannot comment on any patient care he rendered during his career."
"The events referenced are alleged to have occurred almost 50 years ago," Gaynor told the Journal Sentinel. "Dr. Dettmann has no independent recollection of the individuals making these allegations and is unaware of any evidence supporting the claims being asserted."
The complaint, filed by lawyers for Heider and Lukezich from the Brookfield, Wisconsin, law firm of Cannon & Dunphy, says that Dettmann was treating Lukezich for infertility in the 1980s when she was in her 20s.
After unsuccessful fertility medicine and surgery, Dettmann suggested artificial insemination with donor sperm and told Lukezich the sperm was from an anonymous "healthy young medical student," the lawsuit alleges.
"Dr. Dettmann further represented that the identity of the donor would be unknown to Mrs. Lukezich, and that Mrs. Lukezich’s identity would be unknown to the donor," the lawsuit says.
"Dr. Dettmann, without the knowledge or consent of Mrs. Lukezich and contrary to his specific representations to her, did not use sperm from an anonymous donor; that instead, Dr. Dettmann used his own sperm to inseminate Mrs. Lukezich."
Heider was born Feb. 13, 1983, and after his birth, the lawsuit says Dettmann continued to provide gynecological and fertility care to Lukezich and never disclosed that it was his own sperm he used to inseminate her and that Heider was his biological son.
Dettmann's actions were malicious and intentionally disregarded Lukezich's rights, according to the lawsuit, and he also allegedly inseminating other patients, resulting in Heider having numerous known and unknown siblings.
Similar allegations have happened around the world
Increased popularity of DNA testing has resulted in other cases with similar allegations about fertility doctors using their own sperm to secretly inseminate their patients, which many patients and their offspring view as a major violation of physician ethics and of the inherent trust of the doctor-patient relationship.
In one case from the Netherlands, a doctor reportedly became the biological father to dozens of offspring by impregnating his patients. A documentary called"Seeds of Deceit" was made about the case in 2018.
Reach health-care reporter Stephanie Innes at stephanie.innes@usatodayco.com or follow her on X: @stephanieinnes or on Bluesky: @stephanieinnes.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ doctor secretly used his sperm to inseminate patients, lawsuit says
