For 28 years, Jessica thought Mike Harvey was her biological father.
But then she took a DNA test to search for distant relatives and got shocking results: She and her dad didn't share the same genes.
Instead, Jessica’s biological father was a man she and her parents had never met.
The news came as a shock to her parents as well, and now, the Harvey family is suing. TheyclaimJessica’s mother’s fertility procedure in 1991 was botched, and her mother was impregnated with the wrong sem*n.
The Cuyahoga Falls family filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court against Summa Health;Dr. Nicholas Spirtos, the doctor who performed the intrauterine insemination;and Spirtos’ Akron fertility business.
“By sharing our story, we hope that we might be able to help others and prevent this from happening to them,” Jeanine Harvey said during an online news conference Wednesday.
Despite the DNAresults, Jessica Harvey Gallowaysaid she is still in disbelief about what she learned about her heritage. She said, though, that it hasn’t changed how she feels about the people who raised her.
“No matter what, you are my parents,” Jessica, said, getting choked up.
Summa spokesman Mike Bernstein said the hospital is aware of the family’s claims but hasn’t yet met with themor conducted testing of its 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,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein said Summa “takes this allegation seriously” and understands “the impact this has on the family.”
Thomas Knoll, Spirtos’ attorney, could not be reached for comment.
Adam Wolf, a partner with Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, the Cleveland-based law firm representing the Harveys, said they are the latest victims of the largely unregulated fertility industry that he described as the “Wild West.” He called on lawmakers to enact oversight of this multi-billion-dollar industry.
“As consumers, we think of fertility clinics as professional organizations,” he said. “The truth is: Nail salons are subject to far tighter controls than labs in fertility clinics.”
His law firm also represented a Central Ohio family in a similar lawsuit filed in 2019. In that case, a24-year-old woman found out through a DNA kit that she wasn’t biologically related to her father. The Cartellone family sued a Cincinnati fertility clinic, hospital and lab, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Wolf said that lawsuit was settled, though he didn’t provide details on the settlement.
Fertility procedure is performed
Jeanine Harvey and her husband, John Harvey, who goes by Mike, sought help in getting pregnant from Spirtos at the IVF Center at Summa Akron City Hospital in 1991.
On Aug. 12, 1991, Jeanine had an intrauterine insemination, a procedure in which a doctor inserts genetic material into a patient’s uterus. Mike provided a sem*n sample that morning for use in the procedure, with a lab technician performing a washing process aimed at isolating healthy sperm to promote fertilization.
The couple paid out of pocket for the procedure. Mike had children from a previous marriage, which led the couple to think Jeanine could get pregnant using his sperm.
Jeanine did getpregnant and, in 1992, Jessica was born.
Girls were rare in the Harvey family. Jeanine said she was so excited when she learned her baby’s gender that she screamed and scared the doctors.
The family hada normal life, with highpoints like vacations and graduations. They also enjoyed celebrating Mike Harvey’s Italian heritage. Jessica even learned Italian.
DNA test provides alarming result
Jessica and her husband were planning a trip to Europe and asked Jessica’s parents for an Ancestry.com kit for Christmas in 2020.
They thought it would be fun to try to track down distant relatives during their travels. Instead, they received startling news in early 2021.
The Ancestry.com results showed that Jessica had no Italian roots, unlike Mike.
She shared the DNA test results with the parents, who were puzzled and concerned.
Another DNA test and a paternity test were performed. The tests showed that Make wasn't her biological father.
Through research of genealogy records and social media, Jessica discovered that her biological father was a man who, along with his wife, was undergoing fertility treatment by Spirtos at the same time as the Harveys. The same sperm washing procedure was used for the man’s wife’s procedure as was used for Jeanine’s.
As for what happened with Mike’s sem*n sample, the Harvey family said in the lawsuit they aren’t sure. The possibilities include the sem*n being used in another fertility procedure, still being in the lab or getting thrown out.
“The Harveys and the public deserve to know,” said Ashlie Case Sletvold, another attorney for the Harveys.
The wife of Jessica’s biological father didn’t become pregnant as a result of her fertility procedure, Sletvold said.
Family files lawsuit
The Harvey family and their attorneys reached out to Summa Health and Spirtos last July, providing them with the medical records of the tests they’d had done as well as statements from Jessica’s biological father and his former wife.
Sletvold, though, said Summa and the doctor haven’t offered to meet or do their own tests.
“They have offered no explanation for how Jessica was conceived,” Sletvold said. “We were left with no choice but to take this dispute to court.”
The Harvey family says they have suffered severe emotional distress because of the sperm mix-up.
Their lawsuit has multiple claims, including medical malpractice, negligence, negligent hiring/training/supervision, battery, loss of consortium and breach of contract. It has been assigned to Judge Joy Malek Oldfield.
The family is seeking compensatory damages, the costs of the lawsuit and other potential damages.
Asked about the scope of damages, Wolf said “no amount of money will compensate them for what was done.” He said again that more accountability is needed in the industry to prevent this from happening to other people.
“You shouldn’t need to question where your sperm is – and whether you have a child you don’t know about,” Wolf said.
The Harvey family talked in the news conference about how this has impacted their lives.
Jeanine Harvey said the family can’t share Italian jokes and Jessica opted against taking her trip to Europe that would have included going to Italy.
“Her heritage has literally been stripped away from her,” she said.
Mike Harvey said Jeanine and Jessicaare the two most important women in his life and always will be. He said, though, thatthis experience has been like “waking up in someone else’s life.”
Jessica, who lives in Tennessee, said she’s learned some about her biological father’s heritage and health history, including that she’s Welsh, Scottish and French from that side of the family. She said she and her biological father have been texting each other quick messages like “Happy Birthday” and “Happy New Year,” but she’s not sure what’s next for them.
“It’s still so fresh and new,” she said. “We’re trying to figure that out.”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj. Beacon Journal reporter Betty Lin-Fisher contributed to this story.
