Babalık Testinde Rapor Serüveni: Bir Olgu Sunumu/The Adventure of a Paternity Case: A Case Report

Paternity determination is one of the most common practices in forensic medicine. For this purpose, DNA analyses are performed using the biological samples (blood or buccal swabs) taken from individuals and STR (Short Tandem Repeat) loci are examined in paternity tests requested by individuals or the Court. The genetic similarities of the STR alleles guide the forensic geneticists to reveal that there is a biological relationship between the child and the alleged father. In this study, the adventure of a Turkish family living in Austria having paternity tests carried out four times in four different laboratories is presented. Although all the paternity reports showed that there was a biological relationship between the child and the alleged father, a genetic difference (seems like exclusion) detected in one of the STR loci of the father was not clearly explained to the family, which raised their concerns about this paternity test. This turned into an effort to clarify the results by having the paternity tests performed in four different laboratories and it affected the whole family both financially and psychologically. By means of this case report, it is emphasized that some technical problems which are possible and scientifically explainable may be encountered in genetic identification systems, and these can confuse the individuals causing anxiety. Therefore it is imperative that the experts analyzing the samples, writing the paternity test reports, explaining the results to the families be aware of these confusions, interpret the paternity test results correctly and explain them accurately and clearly to the families.