Alamo Doctor Impregnanted Patient With His Sperm, Lawsuit Says

ALAMO, CA — A fertility doctor previously practicing in Alamo was sued this week by a Livermore woman who alleged he committed "medical rape" by inseminating her with his sperm instead of a donor's.

Dr. Michael S. Kiken, 77, was a fertility doctor in Alamo at the time Katherine Richardson Richards and her husband sought his help in 1978. After Richards' daughter used a 23andMe DNA testing kit last year, Richards is alleging Kiken engaged in battery, fraud breach of fiduciary duty and more in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit claims that Richards is not Kiken's only patient subject to such misconduct.

Kiken did not immediately respond to a request for comment left at a phone number associated with him. His attorney declined to comment.

Attorney Adam Wolf of law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway, which specializes in cases related to in vitro fertilization, said the firm filed a similar lawsuit alleging "fertility fraud" against a San Diego doctor Wednesday.

The cases are "the tip of the iceberg in hundreds of fertility fraud cases that will emerge across the U.S. thanks to home DNA test kits," Wolf said in a statement.

'I'm A Product Of My Mother's Abuser'

Kiken determined Richards' husband was infertile and suggested she undergo artificial insemination with sperm from an anonymous donor, according to the lawsuit. Kiken said the donor would be a young adult medical student who was healthy, smart, musical, white and Christian — like her husband, who died in 2000, according to the lawsuit.

Her daughter, Julie Druyor of Dallas, was born in 1979 and her son was born of sperm from the same donor in 1981.

But last year, Richards discovered the biological father wasn't who she thought, according to the lawsuit.

"Sometimes I look in the mirror and don’t even recognize myself," Druyor said in the statement. "Sometimes, I see the man who violated my mother’s trust and turned our worlds upside down. I’m a product of my mother’s abuser.”

Richards' daughter was gifted a 23andMe DNA testing kit and learned she was half Irish and French, and half Jewish, according to the lawsuit. She was a carrier for Tay Sachs, a rare genetic condition common in people of Jewish heritage.

She found she had a half-brother in addition to the brother she grew up with, according to the lawsuit. Her brother, who subsequently took a DNA test, confirmed that they were full siblings.

Still, Richards didn't guess that Kiken could be the biological father, according to the lawsuit.

Her daughter was in the midst of serious health troubles and wanted to know more about her background. Kiken did not respond to a letter and call from Richards seeking more information about the donor, according to the lawsuit. At the time of her insemination, she was told that she could always get medical information about the donor.

Her daughter learned of her relationship to Kiken after turning to a genealogist for help, according to the lawsuit. Results from Ancestry.com showed Kiken was their biological father, according to the lawsuit. Their biological grandparents were Kiken's parents and they were related to Kiken's cousins, according to the lawsuit.

"The results were astonishing, disgusting, and devastating," the lawsuit said.

Richards was crippled by anxiety and emotional pain. She lost her ability to trust. Her life was shattered.

"All of our memories, and all of the memories that we have yet to make are forever tainted," Richards said in the statement.

Her children learned they had a half-brother who was four months older than Richards' daughter, lived 15 minutes away, was in the same grade, and had similar friend groups, according to the lawsuit. His mother was also told she was being set up with a sperm donor who was a medical student.

"Using the same sperm to inseminate women living in a small geographic area — where their children may interact without knowing their genetic relation to one another — is dangerous and demonstrates [Kiken's] reckless disregard for the rights of his patients, their children, and the community generally."

Richards is seeking Kiken's health history, restitution, compensation and punitive damages as a result of her allegations of professional misconduct.

Kiken's medical license was canceled in California. He now lives in Virginia, where he has been licensed to practice since 1998, according to Virginia Board of Medicine records.

Though the board's website states that Kiken last updated his primary practice address in July as the Virginia Correctional Center For Women, a Department of Corrections spokesperson said he was a contract employee who worked there from September 2014 to March 2020.

Kiken has not reported any paid claims or actions taken on his license by other states or organizations, Virginia Board of Medicine records show. The Virginia board has not taken any actions against him.