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Ohio Family Using DNA Kit Learns Dad and Daughter Not Related, Sues Fertility Clinic

The Cartellones' case illustrates a lack of oversight that could help to prevent mistakes at fertility clinics, the family's lawyers said in a release Wednesday

An Ohio family using a home DNA test found that their 25-year-old daughter is not related to her father, according to a lawsuit they filed against a hospital and two fertility practices.

Joe Cartellone said his family made the discovery earlier this year after buying an Ancestry DNA kit to learn more about their Italian heritage, says the family's lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.

“I never would have imagined the Christmas gift of a home DNA kit would unveil this kind of abuse of our trust,” Cartellone told reporters this week.

He and his wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Rebecca, are suing three Cincinnati defendants — the Institute for Reproductive Health, The Christ Hospital and Ohio Fertility Providers, NBC News reports. DNA tests showed that Rebecca is related to five men she has never met before, and one of them "previously worked as a doctor at The Christ Hospital,” family lawyer Adam Wolf told NBC affiliate WCMH in Columbus.

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