S30 Trailer | Bad Results
Who is this baby’s father? It’s a question a DNA lab promised to answer with “99.9% accuracy” — but instead, routinely identified the wrong dads. Investigative journalists Jorge Barrera and Rachel Houlihan track down the families whose lives were torn apart by these bad results and the story behind the Canadian company that stands by its testing and continues to operate today.
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Transcript
This is a CBC podcast.
I was trying to protect him
from this Jerry Springer reality of like, and who's the dad now?
And it's just like, better to know.
That's why I wanted to get the test.
You know, she doesn't recall any kind of significant moment that would lead her to believe it's either one of us in particular.
And she's very very early stages pregnancy, not showing or anything like that.
What do you do?
What is it?
It's a paternity test.
Paternity test.
They all needed a paternity test.
For some, a pregnancy was good news.
For others, that was less certain.
But what they had in common was a single question:
Who's the dad?
One by one, they went looking for the answer.
Just look up: is it it possible to do a DNA test before a baby's born?
And bingo.
We find this company that will do a prenatal DNA test.
I search prenatal paternity tests near me, and then this Viaguard Acumetrics shows up.
The same company, hit after hit.
Thank you for calling our award-winning laboratory testing and research center.
For a few hundred bucks, some blood from the mom, a sample from the potential dads, Viaguard Acumetrics promised accuracy.
You're receiving the definitive answer on the question of paternity of the fetus.
Clinically precise, accurate, and economical.
People relied on these tests.
They needed this clarity.
As soon as I saw those test results, It was like a line in the sand.
Everything I did was now geared towards building a future for this child.
And they needed certainty.
You know, like it's obviously legit.
It's a DNA company.
I trusted those results.
But instead, the company delivered chaos.
Called Accumentrix sobbing.
Like,
what's going on here?
There's something wrong.
She doesn't look like the baby you told me I was going to have.
It's devastating.
That's just some fucked up nightmare.
And you're the company that's supposed to provide me with results.
I was pissed.
From CBC News Podcasts, I'm Rachel Houlihan.
And I'm Jorge Barrera.
We're journalists with the CBC News Investigative Unit.
This is the story of people who put their faith in a small Canadian company with an explosive secret.
A pattern of naming the wrong dads.
He's not the dad.
And I remember, I couldn't breathe.
I'm like, what?
What do you mean he's not my son?
So was it just bad luck?
Like, are there other people?
Am I the only one?
How could I be that unlucky?
Or was it something else?
Like, one mistake is unfortunate, but constant errors?
There's no one who can listen to what I'm saying and say, no, it is legitimate.
They're just making mistakes.
This is the story of our investigation into this company.
Dr.
Harvey Tenenbaum, we've talked to like dozens of people whose lives have been upended by your laboratory's creative details.
The tests were never fly.
The tests are accurate.
How is it that a year ago, I'm 99.97%
a match to this human?
And now here we are a year later and I'm 0%?
Who's to blame here?
From CBC News, listen to Uncover Bad Results, coming October 28th, everywhere you get your podcasts.
My story is true, and my story should never happen to anyone else.
For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca/slash podcasts.
