PHOENIX — Kristen Finlayson always believed she was half Hispanic until a DNA test rocked her world.
"I kept seeing this last name Blute, Blute, Blute,” Finlayson said.
The Blute name was on her DNA results again and again. Finlayson had likely seen the name before but didn't realize it. It was on her birth certificate, the name of the doctor that delivered her.
"My mom wanted to have kids with my dad and it couldn’t happen so [Blute] offered his services, literally," Finlayson said.
Back in the 1980s, Kristen’s parents wanted to have kids but couldn't. So, they went to Dr. James Blute III to get artificially inseminated.
Their one request: They wanted the sperm donor to be Hispanic like Kristen’s father. According to a lawsuit filed by the family, Blute said he would be able to get a donor.
However, when it came to insemination, the lawsuit claims it was Blute's sperm that was used.
“She did not want her doctor's kids,” Finlayson said.
This didn't just happen once. Finlayson has an older brother, a brother whose DNA is a match with her own.
“It’s just a new kind of evil, a new kind of deception,” Finlayson said.
The family never knew, until just over a year ago. That's when Finlayson got the DNA test. After getting the results, Finlayson brought the results to her mother, asking how this could have happened?
Her mom was horrified to learn the truth.
"She just lost it after that, she had no idea the doctor did that to her," Finlayson said. "She feels violated, she did not consent to him at all."
The family is now suing Blute for what happened.
12 News attempted to reach the doctor or his lawyer for comment but received no response.
“The law has not caught up with the science.” Dev Sethi, the family's attorney said. “Today, this is not a crime and it needs to be a crime."
Currently, the family is suing Blute for negligence and other charges in civil court. However, there is currently no specific law on the books that says what Dr. Blute did was a crime.
But legislation may soon change that. Sen. Nancy Barto is sponsoring a Fertility Fraud bill that would allow victims to go after doctors who inseminate patients with the doctor's sperm, without the patient's knowledge.
The bill does not include language making it a criminal offense.
“This is just a small, a small step," Finlayson said.
She wants lawmakers to make "fertility fraud" a criminal offense to protect people like her mother.
"I just want him to be held accountable for what he did to my mother," Finlayson said.
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