Woman sues gynecologist after discovering he is her ‘biological father’, lawsuit claims

A woman in New York has filed a lawsuit against a gynecologist after allegedly finding out she is his biological daughter.

The lawsuit, filed last weekend, is also against the Genesee Valley Group Health Association and the Center for Menstrual Disorders.

The gynecologist, Morris Wortman, has also been accused of using his own sperm to inseminate his patients after plaintiff Morgan Hellquist, who was conceived via artificial insemination at Wortman’s practice, discovered she had six half-siblings after taking a DNA test in 2016.

The DNA test showed she was 50 per cent Ashkenazi Jewish, as are her five half-siblings, which Wortman is.

The lawsuit states that Hellquist was born in September 1985 to her biological mother Jo Ann Levey and her non-biological father, Gary Levey. After suffering an accident, Gary was unable to bear his own children. Due to this, Jo Ann enrolled as a patient at Wortman’s practise in Rochester.

Hellquist was conceived via artificial insemination and was born in 1985. She never knew her biological father, but did know that Wortman had arranged the artificial insemination of her mother.

She initially thought her biological father was a medical student who had donated his sperm, however Hellquist now believes Wortman used his own sperm for the insemination.

Around 1998 or 1999, Hellquist was learning about biology at high school. She requested to know more about the medical student who had supposedly fathered her, but according to the court documents Wortman said he didn’t retain medical records from his fertility practice from the time period in which she was conceived.

When she was 26 in 2012, she sought Wortman’s help for irregular menstrual bleeding after having two children. For the next nine years, Hellquist went to the gynecologist’s practice for vaginal and breast examinations.

But in April of this year she became suspicious.

During an appointment with Wortman, she alleges that he asked her to take off her mask because she “looked better without her mask.”

During the same visit, Wortman allegedly invited his wife, Rebecca, into the examination room and introduced her to Hellquist. The court documents state: “This was very unusual and had never happened before in any other of her patient visits.”

He then invited his wife to “get a close look” at Hellquist to see the physical resemblance between the two. The lawsuit alleges this was because “Rebecca and Defendant Wortman both knew Defendant Wortman was [Hellquist’s] biological father.”

At the end of the appointment he supposedly remarked: “You’re a really good kid, such a good kid.”

The court documents state that Hellquist realised Wortman was her biological father when one of her half-brothers said he was in touch with Wortman’s daughter from his first marriage.

In May of this year, Hellquist found out that this half-brother had a 99.99% probability of siblingship with Wortman’s known daughter. Hellquist then took her own test, confirming the siblingship between Wortman’s daughter and herself.

It’s alleged that Wortman used his own sperm when Hellquist was conceived, without the consent or knowledge of Mr and Mrs. Levey.

The lawsuit outlines that currently, given she has found six half-siblings herself, along with Wortman’s three known biological children, she now has a total of nine half-siblings “with likely more to be discovered.”

The lawsuit says if she had been aware he was her biological father, she would never have consented to be treated for gynecological care by him.

Hellquist is suing for a number of things, including medical malpractice, lack of informed consent, negligence, fraud, and battery.

indy100 has contacted The Center for Menstrual Disorders for comment.