Summer McKesson struggled to breathe for years. Doctors told her it
\nwas because her blood would not stop clotting \u2013 and they couldn\u2019t figure
\n out why.<\/p>\n
A single clot alone can be lethal; but the recurring and
\n unexplained clots that formed in McKesson\u2019s heart and lungs were a
\nmedical mystery.<\/p>\n
After multiple surgeries to remove clots and scar
\n tissue, McKesson traveled to the Mayo Clinic, where she sat in a
\nconference room while renowned physicians and specialists worked through
\n her case on a whiteboard.<\/p>\n
But even they were baffled.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo hear that even they had never seen it before,\u201d she told CNN through tears, \u201cI came back (home) just crushed at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Desperate
\n for answers, McKesson said she turned to 23andMe, hoping the DNA
\nanalysis service, which claims to offer insights into its clients\u2019
\ngenetic health history, might unlock some clues to her condition.<\/p>\n
But
\n her quest for answers would unearth a family secret \u2013 and a doctor\u2019s
\ndecades-old deception that has ensnared multiple families across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tAsk your parents about Dr. Peete<\/p>\n
McKesson
\n never questioned her genetics \u2013 or considered 23andMe \u2013 until a team of
\n surgeons performed an urgent, open-heart procedure in 2022 to remove
\nclots from her heart and lungs.<\/p>\n
As she recovered, McKesson said her surgeon dropped another bomb.<\/p>\n
While His Her heart would now need to be constantly monitored, and she will eventually need at least one more major heart surgery.<\/p>\n But McKesson, The results arrived in her inbox in October 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI \u201cGrowing While there weren\u2019t many The test showed she had seven half-siblings.<\/p>\n \u201cI Was she actually adopted? None of what she was learning made sense.<\/p>\n She \u201cHumor has really gotten me through a lot of this,\u201d McKesson said, so she opted for a lighter tone in her first note.<\/p>\n She \u201cI \t\t\t\t\t\tA doctor\u2019s decades of deception<\/p>\n In The couple wanted children, Laurie told The But During The At each visit, Kruppa said she \u201cHe seemed nice enough and concerned, but we didn\u2019t have a lot of interaction,\u201d Kruppa recalled decades later.<\/p>\n I would \u201cwait 10 or 15 minutes, and then he\u2019d come back and insert the sperm.\u201d<\/p>\n Kruppa And for each child, Peete used his own sperm without her knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tRevelations and revulsion<\/p>\n It would be decades before the Kruppas would learn the truth about their children\u2019s paternity.<\/p>\n During \u201cWe thought maybe the two \u201cMy son was born two and a half years later, so we thought it had to be somebody different.\u201d<\/p>\n After \u201cThey all reacted very well,\u201d Kruppa said of her kids. \u201cThey\u2019ve never not thought that (Doug) was their dad.\u201d<\/p>\n But Then, the It took her months to fully process what Peete\u2019s actions meant for her \u2013 and over time, she became angry.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen As the Kruppas\u2019 children were grappling Less \u201cShe \u201cIt was early 1977,\u201d he said, \u201cand they got a sperm donor.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming And Harris said his conversations with one sibling in particular stood out.<\/p>\n At But when Harris started researching the woman\u2019s maiden name, he discovered her father was Dr. Peete. He sent her a message.<\/p>\n To Harris, the conclusion was clear: His mom\u2019s doctor had used his own sperm instead of a donor\u2019s.<\/p>\n It \u201cIt But as they continued to exchange messages, she later noted how Jim looked a lot like her father.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there is more to this story we may never really know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThe country doctor<\/p>\n Dr. A public obituary posted online Peete Decades later, in the late 1970s, Peete \u201cHe was very calm and composed,\u201d Fortier recalled. \u201cHe was Peete, he said, was the type of person who was \u201cquietly there in the background, but they\u2019re always there when you need (them).\u201d<\/p>\n At \u201cThere wasn\u2019t But when he learned, through CNN, that his mentor and \u201cThe idea \u2026 the thought of using one\u2019s own sperm \u2026 that surprised me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tWhen fertility treatment becomes fraud<\/p>\n Among In 1909, a physician in Minnesota wrote a letter to the \u201cAt the time the procedure was so A wealthy couple had \u201cThe woman was chloroformed and with a hard rubber syringe The professor, he said, later confessed his actions to the woman\u2019s husband.<\/p>\n \u201cStrange as it may seem, the man was delighted with the idea,\u201d Hard wrote.<\/p>\n Both the doctor and the professor agreed to never tell the man\u2019s wife, he said.<\/p>\n Today, these actions \u2013 and those of Dr. Peete \u2013 would be deemed not only unethical, but an act of medical malpractice.<\/p>\n Informed In using his own sperm without his patients\u2019 knowledge, experts told CNN, Peete violated that central covenant.<\/p>\n \u201cIf \u201cThe standard (of care) should be to tell people where the sperm is coming from,\u201d he said, \u201cEven back then.\u201d<\/p>\n But Peete is far from the only doctor to have committed this type of deception. In 1992, Cecil Jacobson<\/a> For all its focus on creating life, the US fertility \u201cThere are many \t\t\t\t\t\tPeete \u2018forever changed my life\u2019<\/p>\n That For McKesson, the \u201cUltimately, the hardest thing to Both Our DNA consists of \u201cMost mutations These mutations can be spontaneous, but the paternal age of a sperm donor can also be a factor. A study published earlier this month<\/a> in Nature revealed genetic risks for children increase as fathers age.<\/p>\n Peete would have been approaching 60 at the time McKesson was conceived.<\/p>\n When \u201cI\u2019ve never blamed his family for anything, I mean, they Without further insights into her paternal health history, McKesson admitted she doesn\u2019t have a way to be sure.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve just had to accept that this chapter is never going to be closed,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just forever changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, At McKesson\u2019s insistence, Harris, who is 6\u20197\u201d, was also tested for Marfan syndrome, but he was negative.<\/p>\n Thus But, And with 23andMe filing for bankruptcy<\/a> earlier this year, her chances of finding any additional siblings may be dwindling.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tA matter of life and death<\/p>\n Since In emails reviewed by CNN, the university appeared For a time, McKesson said, the But when she continued to insist When reached for comment \u201cWe have been made aware of CNN also reached out to the legal team that investigated Peete\u2019s actions but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n In the US, 14 states<\/a> Both McKesson said it\u2019s \u201cpretty impossible for the victims to have any sort of justice in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, \u201cI felt like this was a chance for them to step up and be \u201cThe For a while, McKesson said, she would research her But she said she\u2019s decided to speak out With treatment, a person diagnosed with Marfan syndrome can expect to live<\/a> as long as someone without the disease.<\/p>\n
\n operating, he\u2019d noticed the connective tissue that supports her organs
\nwas stretchy and unusually fragile. He told her the complication \u2013
\ncoupled with McKesson\u2019s willowy build and Amazonian height \u2013 could be a
\nsign of an inherited disorder called Marfan syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n suspicions were correct. A geneticist confirmed McKesson\u2019s diagnosis,
\nand said her clotting disorder was also genetic, which ushered in a host
\n of lifelong health challenges.<\/p>\n
\n the diagnosis was puzzling for another reason: both of her conditions
\nare genetic and, as far as she knew, no one else in her family had them.<\/p>\n
\n 43, said she didn\u2019t have a full picture of her family\u2019s health history
\nbecause her father died when she was a teenager. So, she signed up for
\n23andMe, submitted a DNA sample, and waited.<\/p>\n
\n was just sitting on my couch after work, and kind of quickly pulled up
\nthe results on my phone,\u201d McKesson recalled. At first, she said, she was
\n curious to learn more about her family\u2019s ethnic background.<\/p>\n
\n up, I always was like \u2026 \u2018I don\u2019t look like any of y\u2019all. No one has my
\nnose. I\u2019m a foot taller than everyone,\u2019\u201d she said, adding her family
\nused to joke that she was adopted.<\/p>\n
\nsurprises in her family\u2019s ancestry, McKesson said when she navigated to
\nthe \u201cfamily members\u201d section of the site, she drew up short:<\/p>\n
\n just remember being shocked and my mind just swirling,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m
\nlike, how is this possible? \u2026 Did my dad have another family or
\nsomething?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n sent screenshots of the results to a trusted group of friends, and they
\n discussed different theories. Then, later that night, she sent a
\nmessage to her newly discovered half-siblings through the 23andMe
\nwebsite.<\/p>\n
\n sent the same message to each name listed on the site. And then, she
\nwaited. It would take more than a month for anyone to respond.<\/p>\n
\ndon\u2019t want to cause any conflict,\u201d one of them finally wrote, \u201cbut if
\nyou want to dig into this, I\u2019d ask your parents if they went to see Dr.
\nPeete.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n1980, Laurie Kruppa and her husband, Doug, found themselves waiting for a
\n fertility specialist named Dr. Charles Peete in a sterile exam room at
\nDuke University Hospital.<\/p>\n
\nCNN, but Doug had a vasectomy during a previous marriage, so her OB-GYN
\nreferred them to the physicians at Duke for fertility treatment.<\/p>\n
\n 1980s and \u201890s would prove to be a time of innovation in the fields of
\ngenetics and assisted reproductive technology. In 1978, a woman gave
\nbirth to a baby named <\/a>Louise
\n in the United Kingdom through in vitro fertilization, or IVF, making
\nher the first child to be born through the novel procedure.<\/p>\n
\nthe Kruppas opted to use intrauterine insemination, or IUI, a procedure
\nthat had been around in some form for centuries but had only recently
\nbecome common thanks to advances<\/a> in freezing and banking sperm.<\/p>\n
\n the procedure, a doctor places donor sperm directly into the patient\u2019s
\nuterus during ovulation, to increase the chances of conception.<\/p>\n
\n Kruppas were instructed to bring $50 to each visit and, Laurie
\nstressed, they were told the donor sperm would come from a resident in
\nthe university\u2019s medical school.<\/p>\n
\nlaid back on the table, placed her feet in the stirrups, and waited. And
\n then, Peete would walk into the room.<\/p>\n
\n said it took the couple seven attempts to conceive their eldest
\ndaughter. Two visits, less than a year later, to conceive their second
\ndaughter. And a single visit in 1984 to conceive their son.<\/p>\n
\n those years, Kruppa said she and her husband had moved their family
\nfrom North Carolina to Ohio and debated whether they should even tell
\ntheir kids they were donor-conceived.<\/p>\n
\ngirls were definitely related because they came 16 months apart. So, we
\njust thought maybe it was a resident that was still there,\u201d Kruppa said.<\/p>\n
\n years of keeping their secret, Kruppa said the rising popularity of
\nconsumer DNA products eventually forced their hand. They revealed the
\nnews to their children during a family vacation.<\/p>\n
\n they also joined 23andMe and began doing their own research. Kruppa
\nsaid her middle child was the first to discover their connection to
\nPeete. Out of the blue, her daughter asked what hospital her parents
\nused and if Kruppa remembered the name of her doctor.<\/p>\n
\nkids called another family meeting and revealed what Peete had done to
\ntheir parents. Initially, Kruppa said, \u201cI was really glad they were all
\ntrue siblings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n I started thinking, I got much more upset about the ethics of it,\u201d she
\nsaid. \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure he was my father\u2019s age \u2026 This is like getting
\nraped by your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwith the truth about their paternity, Jim Harris was in North Carolina
\nexchanging emails with a newfound half-sibling on 23andMe.<\/p>\n
\nthan a year after his father died from cancer, Harris said his mom
\ncalled and insisted they meet to discuss something important.<\/p>\n
\n drops this bomb that, my dad never wanted to tell me this, but they
\ncouldn\u2019t conceive at the time, and they went to a fertility clinic at
\nDuke University.<\/p>\n
\n so soon on the heels of his father\u2019s death, Harris said the confession
\ncaused him to spiral. He was raised as an only child, but 23andMe
\nrevealed he had multiple half-siblings.<\/p>\n
\n first, the woman was confused about their shared genetics, then
\ncurious. Maybe she was also donor-conceived, and their parents had used
\nthe same donor, she suggested.<\/p>\n
\n took Peete\u2019s daughter days to respond to the revelation, and when she
\ndid, she admitted to being \u201cstunned, shocked and completely baffled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n didn\u2019t even cross my mind that my dad would\u2019ve been the donor, because
\nmy dad was the most honorable human being,\u201d she wrote, \u201c\u2026 being a part
\nof whatever or however this happened just doesn\u2019t add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Charles Henry Peete Jr. died in 2013 at the age of 89. CNN reached out
\nto his immediate family multiple times during the reporting of this
\nstory, but did not hear back.<\/p>\n
\ndescribes Peete as a \u201ccompassionate country doctor,\u201d who discovered his
\npassion for medicine by observing his father, the town physician.<\/p>\n
\n graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1947 and, according to the
\nobituary, he completed a residency in obstetrics, gynecology and
\nendocrinology before accepting a position as an assistant professor and
\nphysician at Duke in 1956.<\/p>\n
\n would become one of Dr. Ken Fortier\u2019s attending physicians and his
\nmentor during his gynecology and gynecological surgery residency at
\nDuke.<\/p>\n
\nsuperb technically as a surgeon. He made things look easy that others
\nmight struggle with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n the time, Fortier told CNN, it was widely known that residents and
\nmedical students \u2013 especially those specializing in obstetrics and
\ngynecology \u2013 were often tapped to donate sperm.<\/p>\n
\nanything taboo about it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were people in the department
\nwho specialized in infertility that tended to have a kind of cadre of
\ndonors, and they usually were the best people that were generally
\nhealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ncolleague had fathered the children of some of his patients, Fortier
\nsearched for the right words.<\/p>\n
\n the earliest publicized cases of intrauterine insemination (IUI) in the
\n United States was an act of what\u2019s come to be known as \u201cfertility
\nfraud\u201d \u2013 when a physician deliberately misrepresents the origin of donor
\n sperm or eggs, oftentimes using his own sample instead to impregnate a
\npatient.<\/p>\n
\neditor of a medical publication describing an \u201cartificial impregnation\u201d
\nhe said he\u2019d witnessed 25 years earlier \u2013 in 1884 \u2013 while attending
\nmedical school in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\nnovel, so peculiar in its human ethics, that the six young men of the
\nsenior class who (witnessed) the operation were pledged to absolute
\nsecrecy,\u201d author A.D. Hard wrote. <\/p>\n
\nvisited the hospital to learn why they were struggling to conceive. Hard
\n said the husband was deemed sterile and one of the medical students
\njoked that the only way his wife could get pregnant was with \u201ca hired
\nman.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nsome fresh semen from the best-looking member of the class was deposited
\n in the uterus, and the cervix slightly plugged with gauze,\u201d Hard wrote.<\/p>\n
\n consent \u2013 or the idea patients have the right to make independent and
\ninformed decisions about their own bodies and healthcare outcomes \u2013 is a
\n cornerstone of modern medicine.<\/p>\n
\n he said, \u2018we\u2019re using a resident\u2019s sperm,\u2019 and it was his own sperm,
\nthat\u2019s very problematic,\u201d said Dr. Robert Klitzman, director of Columbia
\n University\u2019s Masters of Bioethics program and author of the book
\n\u201cDesigning Babies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n was convicted of 52 counts of fraud and perjury for inseminating his
\npatients with his own sperm and was sent to prison. And the advent of
\nconsumer DNA products has led to numerous claims of fertility fraud over
\n the years.<\/p>\n
\nindustry remains underregulated, Klitzman said. While many countries
\nhave pushed to limit or outright prohibit anonymous sperm donations,
\nKlitzman noted the US does not have similar laws.<\/p>\n
\nthings that we look at now with an ethical understanding of the full
\nharms, risks, benefits \u2026 and think \u2013 what were they thinking back then?\u201d
\n Klitzman said.<\/p>\n
\n question haunts Peete\u2019s progeny. Did he use his own sperm because there
\n was a shortage? Or was this ego? Some kind of God complex that drove
\nhim to essentially commit medical fraud?<\/p>\n
\nrationale for Peete\u2019s actions is secondary to their repercussions.
\nLearning the truth of her paternity has sparked something of an
\nexistential crisis, she said.<\/p>\n
\nprocess once you started putting the pieces together was that I was a
\nproduct of a crime, that I was the product of medical rape,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n McKesson\u2019s clotting disorder and Marfan syndrome are genetic, meaning
\none of her biological parents either passed on the traits, or it\u2019s what
\nscientists describe as a \u201cnew mutation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nbillions of letters that combine to form a unique word: You. But
\nsometimes, as the genetic code from each parent divides and replicates,
\nchanges are made. Scientists call these mutations.<\/p>\n
\n have no meaning,\u201d Klitzman said, \u201cbut occasionally one does and that\u2019s
\nthe so-called \u2018de novo,\u2019 \u2013 a new mutation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n she learned Peete was her biological father, McKesson said she reached
\nout to his family for more information on his health but did not hear
\nback.<\/p>\n
\ndidn\u2019t ask for any of this either,\u201d McKesson said.\u201d But \u201clet\u2019s just say
\n(Marfan syndrome) doesn\u2019t run in his family \u2013 it could also come from
\nthe fact that he was older.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n McKesson said, because genetic impacts can span generations, she\u2019s been
\n vocal about her conditions with her half-siblings, encouraging anyone
\nshe meets to get themselves \u2013 and their children \u2013 tested.<\/p>\n
\n far, McKesson said Peete is believed to have fathered at least 12
\nchildren outside of his immediate family over more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
\n she added, that number is solely based on those who have submitted DNA
\nsamples to consumer DNA sites like 23andMe and Ancestry.<\/p>\n
\n learning the truth of what happened, both Kruppa and McKesson said they
\n have separately been in contact with Duke University, where Peete was
\nemployed.<\/p>\n
\ninitially to be responsive. A lawyer was hired to contact Peete\u2019s
\nprevious clients and investigate his actions, and, at Kruppa\u2019s
\ninstigation, the university now also offers an ethics course that
\naddresses fertility fraud.<\/p>\n
\nuniversity also appeared to be mediating conversations between Peete\u2019s
\nvictims and his immediate family.<\/p>\n
\n the Peete family provide more insight into the doctor\u2019s genetic and
\nmedical history, they stopped responding.<\/p>\n
\n on this story, Duke Health officials said in a statement its program is
\n built on a \u201ccommitment to operating within the highest ethical and
\nlegal standards in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nunacceptable actions by an individual that occurred in our program in
\nthe early days of fertility care during the late 1970s and early 1980s,\u201d
\n the statement said. \u201cThe unacceptable actions could not happen today at
\n Duke Health and should never have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n have passed laws against so-called fertility fraud. North Carolina,
\nwhere Dr. Peete was employed, does not yet have a statute against it.<\/p>\n
\n McKesson and Kruppa said they have separately considered lawsuits. But,
\n given the lack of regulation over the US fertility industry, and the
\nfact that Peete has died, they feel their options are limited.<\/p>\n
\n she told CNN, she was most disappointed by how both the Peete family
\nand Duke University have responded to the situation \u2013 especially
\nconsidering that, at least in her case, it could be a matter of life and
\n death.<\/p>\n
\ninvolved in doing the right thing, and they\u2019ve chosen not to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n patients that were impacted and their families deserve to know that
\nthey may have had a crime committed against them and be acknowledged \u2013
\nand to know their family medical history to the extent that that\u2019s
\npossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nnewfound siblings to see what traits they have in common. She has the
\nsame smile as one of Peete\u2019s daughters, she said. And both McKesson and
\nHarris are slim and tall.<\/p>\n
\nnow because she\u2019s concerned other siblings might also unknowingly be
\nliving with a life-threatening genetic disorder.<\/p>\n