DETROIT (WXYZ) — DETROIT — A woman says a Detroit family doctor fathered hundreds of babies, which included her. The woman says she took a DNA test and traced it back to her family's doctor.
Jaime Hall says she recently discovered that her biological father is actually Dr. Philip Peven, who’s now 104 years old. Peven admitted to fathering her and potentially hundreds of others and says he and a group of doctors donated their own sperm to couples having trouble conceiving for decades.
“I go, 'I think my Mom's doctor is my Dad,'” Hall said.
Hall says she couldn’t believe it when she took a DNA test through ancestry.com. The results came back and said her family's doctor was the person who fathered her.
She says she confronted Peven about the DNA results.
“I said, 'Sid you ever think that DNA would bring back all your biological children to you?' And he said, 'oh, no,'” she said.
Hall says she wasn’t the only person who took a test. Shortly after, she received a call from a half-brother.
“He had done more research in this and said, 'You have another half-brother that you can call today. It’s his birthday and he’d love to get a sister on his birthday,'” Hall said.
Hall says her parents, who have both died, had no idea Peven used his own sperm. They went to Grace Hospital in Detroit in the 1950s because they were having a difficult time conceiving.
Hall says Peven would inseminate his patients with a fresh sperm sample from himself or one of the other doctors. Hall says she believes Peven was more of a scientist, and a doctor second.
“He said, 'I was on the cutting edge, a pioneer... to be doing what I was doing at my practice,'” Hall said.
But when Peven’s grandson matched with Hall and showed up as her half nephew, it was all the proof she needed. Hall says Peven admitted to fathering her and potentially hundreds of children over his 40-year career.
“His daughter by marriage said to me once, 'Dad, you could have hundreds, maybe thousands of kids,'" Hall said. "And he goes, 'I guess that’s true.' He said I started donating sperm in 1940s.'”
Hall says she’s not angry and she wanted to come forward because she says everyone born from a donor doctor has a right to know who their parents are and encourages others born through the ’50s to ’80s to take a DNA test.
This story was originally published by WXYZ in Detroit.
