Lawyer says more victims come forward after OB-GYN is accused of artificially inseminating with his own sperm instead of donor's
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On Tues., June 9 Lukezich accused Dr. Dettmann of artificially inseminating her with his sperm in 1982 instead of an anonymous donor, who she was told would be a medical school student. This was reportedly discovered in Dec. of 2024 when her son, Joseph Laedtke-Heider took an online genealogy test.
Lukezich came forward on Tues., June 9 wanting to know if other women went through the same situation as her. Attorney Foeckler tells CBS 58 multiple people have come forward, though he didn't specify how many yet. This is on top of the 9 half-siblings that Laedtke-Heider reportedly found on a genealogy testing site.
Art Caplan, Professor of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said it's hard to know how common fertility fraud is. That is, unless the baby is a different race than the biological parents, or it's discovered through genetic testing, like it has been alleged in this case.
"These women got lied to, their rights were violated, and remember, they paid for the procedure, so you really had a situation where the fraud was paid for by the victim." -- Art Caplan
He also called fertility clinics in the 80's the "wild west", as he said they were treated as businesses. This is especially the case since at the time, there were very few regulations in this medial field in Wisconsin and across the country.
"I mean, not only is it an unethical thing to lie to somebody and use somebody your own sperm when you promised that you would be using someone else's, but you're not doing what we call the standard of care. This is absolute medical malpractice," shared Professor Caplan.
Attorney Foeckler says they're planning on filing a civil case in the next month or two, alleging battery.
Whitefish Bay police released police logs from back in 1985 and 1986, where a woman accused Dr. Dettman of sexually assaulting her. On Aug. 19, 1985, a man stated his wife was sexually assaulted while in a gynecological exam with Dr. Dettmann. The doctor denied the allegations. The next day, the assistant district attorney reportedly declined to issue charges as "burden of proof was too difficult."
Then, in April of 1986, the medical examining board "considered the relevant facts and voted to close this case without further action." We reached out to the board for more information and comment but have not heard back. Whitefish Bay police say they have no other records since they were "destroyed according to records retention laws that were in place at that time."
There are no current investigations at this time, per the Whitefish Bay Police Department.
Dr. Dettmann is now 91, living in Scottsdale, Arizona.
A statement from Dettmann's attorney said in part: "Dr. Dettmann has no independent recollection of the individuals making these allegations and is unaware of any evidence supporting the claims being asserted." He has not denied the allegations.
Potential victims of Dr. Dettmann are asked to contact Cannon & Dunphy at 262-782-2700 or email [email protected]