Woman horrified to discover ‘entire life was a lie’ after bombshell discovery made

A 71-year-old woman has launched a lawsuit against a fertility doctor who played too active a part in helping her get pregnant over 40 years ago.

Mary Ellen Lukezich has slammed the 'incomprehensible' actions of Dr Frederick Dettmann, who artificially inseminated her in Wisconsin in the early 1980s.

She had been promised the sperm of a 'healthy young medical school student' but after her son Joseph Laedtke Heider took a DNA test, it transpired that the doctor was actually his father.

Dettmann, who is now 91, seems to have built a habit of this as the lawsuit also alleges that Heider now has nine half-siblings, whose mothers were presumably subject to the same treatment.

Speaking at a news conference in June, Heider said: "Words cannot fully express what it feels like to learn that your entire identity is built on a lie."

It was back in December 2024 when Heider first tried to trace his ancestry through Ancestry.com and he quickly learned of the shocking revelation that the doctor who was supposed to be helping his mother was actually his biological father.

Mary Ellen says she felt violated when she learned the disturbing truth (TMJ4)

"Upon tracing these DNA connections, Joseph identified a direct genetic link to Dr Dettmanns' family; that upon information and belief, this genetic information established that Dr Dettmann is Joseph's biological father," the suit said.

"I got an email from Ancestry, which is the company that I ordered the DNA test from, that I had a half sister,'"he told NBC News. "And so when I went into the DNA results and the relationships, I had noticed that there was multiple half siblings that it had suggested that I was related to."

He obviously spoke to his mother about the revelation and she was understandably angry about the betrayal of her trust all those years ago, suggesting she felt violated.

She said: 'I feel like I've been raped. And it's not right. And I want other women to feel OK about coming forward with this."

Heider added: "What he did was incomprehensible and it was such a betrayal of trust that I just wanted to make sure that if I have the opportunity to hold him accountable for the pain that he caused my mom and the things he put her through, that maybe she didn't even know at the time."

The lawsuit was announced at a press conference (TMJ4)

The lawsuit was officially filed on 6 August by the family's attorney Al Foeckler, who suggested that other women have also come forward with their concerns since the initial press conference.

He said "These families come to fertility doctors at their most hopeful and their most helpless time.

"Trusting completely in the physician who holds their dreams of parenthood in their hands. Dr Frederick Dettmann preyed on that desperation. He exploited that trust.

"There is no question in my mind that this man was a serial predator of women."

A statement has also been issued on behalf of Dettmann by his legal team, in which he denies any wrongdoing on his part.

It reads: "The events referenced are alleged to have occurred almost 50 years ago. Dr Dettmann has no independent recollection of the individuals making these allegations and is unaware of any evidence supporting the claims being asserted," the statement said, according to WISN.