Three Tests Prove Man Not Biological Father
NEW YORK -- After they saw a baby girl they had gone to a fertility clinic to conceive, her parents became convinced something was wrong, according to court papers.
The girl's skin was darker than either parent's, a judge wrote in allowing the parents to proceed with a lawsuit that claims the clinic botched the insemination of the wife's eggs. The ruling was made public Wednesday.
"While we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her; it is simply impossible to ignore," state Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam's decision quoted parents Thomas and Nancy Andrews as saying.
The couple, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses.
The Andrewses' court papers say that on the advice of Dr. Martin Keltz, the couple agreed to in vitro fertilization of the eggs with Thomas Andrews' sperm so they could have a child who was biologically their own. However, their court papers say, the clinic was negligent and used another man's sperm.
Three DNA tests -- a home kit and two professional laboratory tests -- confirmed that Thomas Andrews was not the baby's father, the judge quoted the couple as saying.
The judge said the Andrewses complain that they have been forced to raise a child who is "not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are."
The mother was born in the Dominican Republic "and has a complexion, skin coloration and facial characteristics typical of that region," while the father is Caucasian, the judge quoted the Andrewses' papers as saying.
She allowed the case to proceed against Dr. Reginald Puckett as owner of the clinic but threw out the case against him as an individual. Puckett has already been found liable for the alleged blunder.
In trying to have the lawsuit against Puckett personally and as clinic owner dismissed, his lawyer, Martin B. Adams, told the court that Puckett "did not examine, communicate with, care for or treat plaintiffs."
NEW YORK -- After they saw a baby girl they had gone to a fertility clinic to conceive, her parents became convinced something was wrong, according to court papers.
The girl's skin was darker than either parent's, a judge wrote in allowing the parents to proceed with a lawsuit that claims the clinic botched the insemination of the wife's eggs. The ruling was made public Wednesday.
"While we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her; it is simply impossible to ignore," state Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam's decision quoted parents Thomas and Nancy Andrews as saying.
The couple, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses.
The Andrewses' court papers say that on the advice of Dr. Martin Keltz, the couple agreed to in vitro fertilization of the eggs with Thomas Andrews' sperm so they could have a child who was biologically their own. However, their court papers say, the clinic was negligent and used another man's sperm.
Three DNA tests -- a home kit and two professional laboratory tests -- confirmed that Thomas Andrews was not the baby's father, the judge quoted the couple as saying.
The judge said the Andrewses complain that they have been forced to raise a child who is "not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are."
The mother was born in the Dominican Republic "and has a complexion, skin coloration and facial characteristics typical of that region," while the father is Caucasian, the judge quoted the Andrewses' papers as saying.
She allowed the case to proceed against Dr. Reginald Puckett as owner of the clinic but threw out the case against him as an individual. Puckett has already been found liable for the alleged blunder.
In trying to have the lawsuit against Puckett personally and as clinic owner dismissed, his lawyer, Martin B. Adams, told the court that Puckett "did not examine, communicate with, care for or treat plaintiffs."
