A New Jersey woman says a home DNA kit has revealed her doctor is her daughter’s biological father, and she is now suing for “medical rape” and “fertility fraud” 36 years after the daughter was born.
Bianca Voss, 75, says she discovered this when her daughter Roberta, 36, took a 23andMe DNA test to find out more about her family history. Voss says the test results included the name of her father, Martin D. Greenberg, MD, of Florida, who was the fertility doctor who inseminated Voss in 1983.
“Doctor Greenberg violated Bianca,” her attorney, Adam Wolf, told The Washington Post. “He thought that he could insert his own sperm into his patient’s body by tricking her and without her consent. This is not only gross and unethical, but it’s a severe violation of Bianca’s bodily autonomy.”
According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, the retired doctor is being sued for battery, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Voss is seeking a jury trial, an unspecified amount of damages, and for Greenberg to provide his medical records.
“I hate that they have to know and live with the fact that their father and grandfather is a medical rapist,” Voss said at a news conference on Tuesday, according to People.
Greenberg’s attorney, Barry A. Postman, told the Post that the allegations are “unsubstantiated.”
“My client has been retired for over 15 years and has no medical record and is not aware of any other document suggesting that he ever was involved in Ms. Voss’s medical care,” he said.
This is not the first time that a fertility doctor has been accused of using his own sperm to father children. A doctor in Indiana, Donald Cline, fathered at least 50 children with his patients. And a doctor in Las Vegas, Quincy Fortier, has faced at least 26 allegations of the same crime. Nor is it limited to the United States. In 2019, a Dutch doctor was found to have fathered 49 children, and in 2011, a Brazilian doctor was accused of being the father of many of the 8,000 babies he helped deliver through fertilization programs.
Voss first visited Greenberg’s Manhattan office in 1983 because her partner, who is now deceased, was unable to have a child due to a vasectomy. She said Greenberg told her he would take care of finding an anonymous donor once she paid $100.
“Rather than purchase the sperm from an anonymous sperm donor, Greenberg — without Plaintiff’s knowledge or consent — used his own sperm to impregnate her,” according to the complaint. “As a result, she became pregnant with and gave birth to a daughter who was born in 1984.”
Attorney Joseph Peiffer, managing partner of Peiffer, Wolf, Carr, Kane & Conway, the law firm representing Voss, said during the news conference that cases like this come from a lack of regulation in the U.S. fertility industry. He says this industry is less regulated than nail salons.
Voss said she hopes her lawsuit will encourage other women who were patients of Greenberg’s to do their own DNA testing.
“I am angry that I was violated in this manner. … This whole thing has upended my life and my family’s,” she said. “The damage that it’s doing and the emotional scars that it’s creating for me and them I fear will have lasting effects.”
SOURCES:
The Washington Post: “Decades after her insemination, she says tests revealed the doctor was the father: ‘It’s a severe violation,'” “He was ‘Doctor of the Year’ for helping thousands of women get pregnant. But DNA tests unraveled a dark secret.”
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York: “Bianca Voss, Plaintiff, v. Martin Greenberg, M.D.”
People: “N.J. Woman Sues Doc for ‘Medical Rape,’ Saying Home DNA Kit Shows He Fathered Her Baby — Without Her Consent.”
The Atlantic: “The Fertility Doctor’s Secret.”
The Associated Press: “Dutch fertility doctor may have more than 49 children.”
The Telegraph: “Pele fertility doctor ‘deceived IVF parents.'”
Joseph Peiffer, managing partner, Peiffer, Wolf, Carr, Kane & Conway.
Bianca Voss.
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