An Idaho woman who received fertility treatment from her gynecologist is suing him after she learned the doctor used his own sperm to inseminate her more than three decades ago.
A lawsuit, filed by Sharon Hayes in Spokane County Superior Court, claims former Spokane, Washington Dr. David R. Claypool violated the state’s medical malpractice statute which requires doctors to get informed consent from patients for treatment.
This spring, Hayes’ 33-year-old daughter initially took an at-home DNA test seeking answers about” “ongoing health issues,” the lawsuit claims, and learned not only was the ex-OBG-YN her biological father, but she shares DNA with 16 people in Washington state.
Hayes, of Kootenai County, about 30 miles east of Spokane, is the among throngs of women who have alleged they were tricked by a doctor they trusted to inseminate them with sperm from chosen or anonymous donors. The women all claim they didn’t learn the identity of their child’s father until their children took genetic tests − some until decades after they were born.
“My initial reaction was deep, deeply rooted guilt, for even finding out this information, because my mom never told me about any of this until I took the DNA test,” Hayes’s daughter, Brianna Hayes, who took the test, told KREM-TV.