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An Oregon woman says her life began with a mistake — and she is now asking a court to hold powerful institutions accountable. In a lawsuit seeking $17 million, a 44-year-old woman claims fertility workers mistakenly inseminated her mother with the wrong man’s sperm, a mix-up that went undiscovered for more than four decades.

The case, filed last week, targets Oregon Health & Science University and Providence Health & Services of Oregon, accusing them of negligence in a fertility procedure dating back to 1981.

A Family Shaken by a Genetic Revelation

The woman, identified in court documents only as A.P., filed the suit alongside her biological mother, C.W., and the man who raised her, K.W., her legal father. The couple is married and raised A.P. together, believing for decades that K.W. was her biological parent.

That belief collapsed within the past two years, the lawsuit says, when genetic testing revealed no biological connection between A.P. and the man she knew as her father. The filing does not specify why the DNA testing occurred, but notes the widespread rise of consumer genetic tests in recent years.

Further testing, according to the lawsuit, identified another man as A.P.’s biological father — a patient who had provided sperm to the same fertility clinic while attempting to conceive with his own wife. Both couples, the suit alleges, were treated by the same OHSU fertility doctor.

Allegations of Concealment

The lawsuit claims OHSU has concealed or denied that any error occurred. It remains unclear whether A.P. and her family know the biological father or if he is a complete stranger.

Representatives for OHSU and Providence declined to comment Wednesday to The Oregonian/OregonLive, citing patient privacy laws and ongoing litigation. The filing does not clearly outline Providence’s specific role in the alleged mistake.

Not an Isolated Case

This is not the first time OHSU has faced such allegations. In 2022, the parents of a then 7-year-old boy sued the institution for $30 million, claiming another man’s sperm was mistakenly used to impregnate the mother. That biological donor — who had stored his sperm before a medical procedure that would leave him infertile — filed a separate lawsuit seeking $10.4 million.

Both cases appear to have settled in 2023 before trial, though court records do not disclose settlement terms or whether money changed hands.

The Oregonian/OregonLive requested settlement information under Oregon public records law. An OHSU spokesperson said the institution may not be able to immediately produce the documents.

Emotional and Medical Toll

In the newly filed case, the lawsuit says the revelation has “deeply traumatized” the family, leaving A.P. and the man who raised her to grapple with the knowledge that they are not biologically related.

The suit also alleges A.P. was unknowingly predisposed to inherited health conditions from her biological father, estimating related medical costs at $1 million. Specific conditions are not detailed.

Her mother, the lawsuit states, endured “offensive sexual contact” and a “severe invasion of her personhood” by conceiving and giving birth as a result of the wrongful use of another man’s semen.

A.P., the filing says, will live with “doubt, frustration, confusion, and embarrassment” for the rest of her life, describing her birth as nonconsensual. All three family members require ongoing counseling, with estimated lifetime costs of $1 million, according to the suit.

Like a genetic puzzle solved too late, the lawsuit argues the truth arrived long after it could undo the harm — but not too late to demand accountability.