Ohio Couple To Sue Doctor Who Allegedly Inseminated Woman With Stranger's Sperm

An Ohio couple will file a lawsuit against an Akron City Hospital doctor for allegedly inseminating the wife with a stranger's sperm in 1991.

Attorneys representing the family and the daughter said they discovered the truth years later through a home DNA test, reported WOIO.

According to the attorneys at the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, the "botched procedure" saw the sperm of a stranger being used instead of the woman husband's. The couple believed they had undergone an intrauterine insemination procedure using the husband’s genetic material.

A release by the law firm said the doctor serving the couple was Dr. Nicholas J. Spirtos, who was then working as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and In Vitro Fertilization/Embryo Transfer.

Summa Health in Akron, which currently offers the option to book an appointment with Spirtos, has released a statement in response to the potential lawsuit.

"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," the statement read.

The law firm added that the suit will be filed Wednesday in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas and a live video news conference with the family will also be held.

In a similar incident, a woman had filed a lawsuit against her fertility doctor, accusing him of secretly using his own sperm to impregnate her nearly 40 years ago. According to the woman, she had requested the doctor to use an "anonymous donor from a sperm bank." A federal lawsuit accused Dr. Martin D. Greenberg, who practiced in New York City, of "medical rape." The alleged fraud came to light when the daughter purchased a DNA kit from 23andMe in the fall of 2020.