A woman who is suing a gynecologist for secretly becoming her father when she conceived her mother with semen in the 1980s told how she learned that he was her father while she was also receiving medical treatment. treatment of it.
Morgan Helquist, 36, filed a lawsuit against Dr. Maurice Wortman, a gynecologist in upstate New York last September. She is one of a growing number of people who learn they have entire families or relatives after doing a DNA test at home.
In January 1985, he inseminated her mother, Joe Ann Levy, with semen that she claimed was a medical student, but was actually his.
Levi Gary’s husband, who raised Morgan, was paralyzed when he was 20 after being hit by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle. The couple, who were high school lovers, went to Wortman to ask for his help in starting a family and paid $ 50 three times a month for what they considered to be a stranger’s semen. They conceived Morgan in 1985.
In 2016, a year after her father Gary’s death, Morgan did a DNA test on her ancestors to find out more about her biological heritage, and she found that she had six half-siblings, all of whom came from the same donor.
Morgan Helquist, 36, filed a lawsuit against Dr. Maurice Wortman, a gynecologist in upstate New York last September
Gynecologist Dr. Maurice Wortman. He denies the allegations and is still practicing in upstate New York
Morgan’s mother, Joe Ann Levy, and her father, Gary, went to the gynecologist for help in the 1980s. Gary was hit by a drunk driver and could not have children naturally. They asked for help and to use a sample from an anonymous sperm donor
At the time, Wortman – who was revered by her family for giving them a miracle baby – had been treating her with her own gynecological problems for four years.
It wasn’t until 2021 – after treating her for nine years – that Morgan learned from a DNA test that he was probably her biological father.
She claims that he knew that he was her father during the nine years he treated her, and that he was sometimes inappropriate with her.
In her trial, she claims he made sexually inappropriate jokes, told her he was a “good kid” and even made his own wife come into the room to “look” at her because they both knew he was her. was born secretly.
Morgan told The Leader, a local newspaper in New York this week, how horrified she was that he was still training. She also described how she nearly crashed her car when she learned he was her biological father, and how her own mother now blames herself for everything.
“My mother feels so hurt. She said: “I feel like he raped me.” She feels it’s all her fault, “she said.
Wortman has never commented on any of the allegations, but in court documents he claims that she is lying and that he did not use his own semen while treating her mother. He is seeking dismissal.
Morgan told the trial how her family revered him as a miracle worker after helping his mother conceive. When she was eight, she was told she was conceived with the help of a sperm donor because of her father’s earlier incident.
As a child, Morgan said he knew who Worthman was. He was also well known in the area for abortions and was often targeted by protesters for life.
Morgan says she grew up idolizing Wortman for giving her parents a miraculous pregnancy. She chose him as her own gynecologist in 2012
Morgan says Wortman and his wife, Rebecca, knew she was his daughter and that he once called Rebecca into the patient room while he treated her to “look”
“He was on all the news when I was in my late teens. My mother stopped cooking dinner and said, “Here it is,” she said.
In 2012, after having two children of her own, Morgan sought Worthman’s treatment because she was unhappy with her own gynecologist.
Carl Laur also claims that Wortman used his own sperm instead of donor to make him his father
She began visiting him for ultrasounds, breast and pelvic exams, and was happy with the work until she began to doubt that he might be involved in her conception.
When she found out she had six half-siblings, she contacted many of them online and was surprised to see that her half-brothers looked like Wortman.
She also learned that she is a 50 percent Ashkenazi Jew.
At first, Morgan belittled him, convinced that it was impossible for Wortman to be her father.
She continued to visit him for medical treatment and allowed him to apply mascara, among other procedures.
In her case, she claims that he once told her that she was a “Jewish American princess” after she complained about unusual mood swings.
She says he also once showed her an antique “teragun” and asked what she thought it was used for, then suggested that women use it to masturbate.
They all believed that their father, a biological sperm donor, was a medical student who donated his sperm often at the time they were all conceived.
However, one of the half-brothers contacted Worthman’s daughter with his own wife and compared their DNA – the match is 99.9 percent.
Among those she is now in contact with is Carl Laur, who made the announcement after Hellquist first filed his case last year. He says the doctor used his own semen
The statute of limitations in New York for medical abuse is only 2 and a half years, which prevents Morgan from being able to sue him while he was treating her mother.
However, she claims that because he continued to treat her as a patient, while he allegedly knew she was his biological daughter, when she did not, it meant that he was guilty of abusing her.
“I’m kind of swaying on this blade of grass that allows me to hold this person responsible in this degenerate scenario,” she said.
Her lawyer, Catherine Bruns, said: “The doctor has a debt to his patient. In this case, he was obliged not to treat her. He violated his ethical duty as a doctor.