Who's your daddy?

Recent events have aroused interest in paternity testing, both in show business and politics.

- RAYMUND W. LO, MD, FPSP

Rumors will only be just that, rumors, unless the interested parties can prove their claims with paternity testing. The more comprehensive term is relationship testing, since we can also test for different relationships, like siblingship. Or let’s say the putative father is no longer available for testing, either due to death, inability or refusal of the alleged father to be tested.

Relationship testing is resorted to prove or disprove paternity for different reasons. Most common reason to test is to prove that a man is the father of the child/children, either for inheritance purposes, child support, rape and immigration. There are not many cases for testing, due to the expense involved in DNA testing, which is the most accurate technique available today.

Based on medical literature, about a fourth of the cases tested are exclusions, meaning the tested man is not the biological father of the child. As we jokingly say, only the women are sure that the child is theirs, and men will have to prove their paternity the hard way.