More than 40 years after Mary Ellen Lukezich sought fertility treatment, she says her son made a shocking discovery: the anonymous donor was the doctor who treated her, using his own sperm to impregnate her without her knowledge or consent.
Lukezich and her son, Joseph Laedtke Heider, filed a lawsuit last Thursday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court against Dr. Frederick Dettmann, a former Milwaukee-area fertility doctor.
The suit cited by local outlet WISN 12 alleges that Dettmann secretly used his own sperm to impregnate Lukezich during the early 1980s, when she was trying to conceive through artificial insemination. According to the lawsuit, Dettmann did the same thing to at least nine other patients without their knowledge or consent.
Jennifer Lahl, founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network (CBC), told The Christian Post that cases involving physicians allegedly using their own sperm to impregnate patients are not new.
“Sadly, this is not the first time a physician has impregnated his patient using his own sperm,” Lahl said. “In most cases, this is done unbeknownst to the woman and her spouse without their consent.”
The CBC founder pointed to the story of a man named Barry, featured in her 2011 documentary “Anonymous Father’s Day.” Barry, who was conceived through donor insemination, estimates he has several hundred half-siblings, since his donor father was married to a fertility doctor who used her husband’s sperm to treat her patients, Lahl explained.
“Barry says in the film that ‘secrets are like landmines,’” she added.
Regarding the case involving Dettmann’s former patients, Lahl said the mother and son are likely “reeling from what has been done by a physician who is entrusted to first, do no harm.”
According to the complaint, Dettmann suggested artificial insemination to Lukezich when she was his patient. He allegedly told her the sperm donor would be an anonymous, “healthy young medical school student.” Instead, the lawsuit alleges Dettmann used his own sperm.
The alleged deception remained secret for decades until Lukezich’s son discovered, through a DNA sample submitted to Ancestry.com in 2024, that he had multiple half-siblings linked to Dettmann.
“Upon tracing these DNA connections, Joseph identified a direct genetic link to Dr. Dettmann’s family; that upon information and belief, this genetic information established that Dr. Dettmann is Joseph’s biological father,” the lawsuit states.
Heider said at a news conference in June that the “anonymous medical student donor that my mother was promised as my biological father never existed.”
“Instead, the DNA led back to one person,” he said. “Doctor Frederick Dettmann, the very doctor my mom trusted to help her have a child.”
“Words cannot fully express what it feels like to learn that your entire identity is built on a lie,” he added.
Al Foeckler, an attorney representing the family, accused Dettmann of exploiting the trust that patients like Lukezich place in him.
“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,” the attorney said in a statement about the case.
“Doctor Frederick Dettmann preyed on that desperation,” Foeckler continued. “He exploited that trust.”
CP attempted to contact Dettmann for comment but was unable to reach him.
“Dr. Dettmann, currently age 91, is aware of the claims being suggested. Due to HIPAA and Wisconsin’s medical confidentiality laws, he cannot comment on any patient care he rendered during his career,” Dettmann’s legal team said in a statement shared with media.
“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.”
Dettmann’s practice dissolved about 30 years ago. He now has 45 days to respond to the lawsuit.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
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