Parents Discover Daughter Is Not Related To Dad Three Decades After 'Mix Up'

After 30 years, a dad has discovered that he is not in fact related to his daughter.

In 1991, Jeanine and John 'Mike' Harvey went to a fertility clinic at Akron City Hospital, Cleveland, in the hope of starting a family.

And they did. Following an IUI procedure - which involves sperm being placed directly in a patient's uterus - the pair became pregnant, welcoming a baby girl, Jessica, into the world in 1992.

However, three decades on, the couple have now discovered that Mike is not Jessica's dad.

They claim that someone else's sperm was used at the time and are now suing Dr Nicholas J Spirtos and Summa Health System, accusing the hospital of malpractice, fraud, and negligence.

Harvey Family

Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday (2 February), Jeanine said: "Our goal couldn't have been clearer, we wanted a child who is genetically related to both of us."

She went on: "Harvey girls were very rare in the family, so we were so excited.

"I screamed and scared the doctors half to death when she was born." 

It was only when Jeanine and Mike bought DNA tests for Jessica and her husband for Christmas back in 2020, that they realised something was wrong.

Harvey Family

They were heading on a trip to Europe and Jessica thought it would be an exciting way of tracing her family tree and potentially linking with distant relatives.

"How cool, we thought, it would be to connect with distant relatives in the countries that we might be visiting," said Jessica.

However, according to the lawsuit, it showed that while Jessica had links to her mother's side, there was no sign of her father's Italian heritage.

The complaint says: "Subsequent investigation revealed that her biological father is a man who, along with his wife, was undergoing fertility treatments with Dr. (Nicholas J.) Spirtos at Summa Akron City Hospital at the same time as the Harveys."

But despite the incredible amount of pain the apparent revelation has brought about for the family, Jeanine says nothing has changed in the way they feel about one another.

She added: "Mike's my husband. Jessica's our daughter. There's no DNA test that will change this.

Good Morning America

"We as a family hope that by sharing our family, putting our private lives out there in the public eye that we might be able to help others and prevent this from happening to them." 

In a statement to People, Mike Bernstein, system director of Corporate Communications for Summa Health System, said: "We are aware of an allegation that has been made claiming in 1991 a patient was artificially inseminated with the semen from a person who is not her husband.

"We take this allegation seriously and understand the impact this has on the family.

"At this point, we have not met with the family or conducted testing of our own. Given the very limited information that we have and the amount of time that has passed, it remains our hope that the attorneys representing the family will work with us to make that next step a priority."

LADbible has contacted Summa Health for a comment.

Topics: US News, Science, Weird

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom