When Morgan Hellquist learned her gynecologist of nine years was actually her father, it seemed her story couldn’t get any more bizarre. But on Friday, a New York Supreme Court judge issued yet another wild turn, ordering DNA from her now-deceased father’s autopsy to be preserved for genetic testing.
Hellquist, 37, sued Dr. Morris Wortman in 2021, alleging he secretly used his own sperm when he performed an IVF procedure on her mother in 1985 that resulted in her birth. She claims the doctor never revealed his identity, despite treating her as a patient for almost a decade.
The suit was pending last month when Wortman, 72, died in a plane crash outside Buffalo. According to the local sheriff’s office, Wortman was riding in an experimental, hand-built aircraft with one other person when the wings fell off, causing the plane to crash in an orchard.
On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Vincent Dinolfo ordered the Monroe County medical examiner to preserve all DNA evidence from Wortman’s remains and submit them for genetic testing to determine his relationship to Hellquist.
Dinolfo wrote that the decision was based “solely on the extraordinary and exigent circumstances warranted by the unexpected and sudden death of Defendant Dr. Morris Wortman,” and should not be used as precedent for future cases. He also ordered Hellquist and her mother to submit their DNA for testing.
Hundreds of IVF patients and donor-conceived children have accused “sperminator” doctors of secretly using their sperm in IVF procedures, in a phenomenon often called “fertility fraud.” The practice is not illegal in most states, but children and patients have scored significant wins in civil courts for breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress.
Jody Madeira, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law and an expert on fertility fraud, said this is the first case she’s seen in the U.S. in which a doctor’s remains were preserved for testing after their death. The only similar case she could recall was Jan Karbatt, a Dutch fertility doctor whose toothbrush was seized by police after his death in 2017. Subsequent DNA testing revealed he was the father of at least 49 children.
Madeira added that there may be more such cases in the future, as the older generation of doctors who engaged in fertility fraud begins to die out.
“I think that we’re just looking at—with the cases that have been found—the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
Hellquist first suspected her doctor might be her father during a visit to his office for her extreme menstrual symptoms in 2021, according to her lawsuit. Wortman was well respected in the area for performing abortions despite repeated threats of violence by anti-abortion protestors, and he was also deeply admired by Hellquist’s mother for helping her conceive despite her husband’s infertility, the suit claims. Wortman allegedly told Hellquist’s mother that the donor sperm he used was from a local medical student who would never donate again.
In 2017, hoping to learn more about her biological father, Hellquist submitted her DNA to a heritage testing site and learned she had at least six half siblings—all conceived via IVF. She also allegedly learned that she was 50 percent Ashkenazi Jewish, despite her parents request that their donor not be predominantly Jewish. She informed her doctor of these revelations, she claims, and he continued treating her, at one point joking that she was now a “Jewish American princess.”
During an exam in 2021, Wortman asked her to take off her face mask, telling her she looked better without it, she alleges. He also showed her an antique theragun and insinuated that women had used it for masturbation, and spoke with her at length about his family and childhood, she says. At one point, his wife walked into the room and he introduced the two—in order for the wife to observe the family resemblance, she now believes.
Disturbed, Hellquist reached out to one of Wortman’s children from his first marriage and asked her to complete genetic testing. The results showed a 99.99 percent chance that the woman was her sibling, according to the suit.
Attorneys are now in mediation over the suit, according to the Democrat and Chronicle, which first reported the news of the judge’s order.
