Dr. Morris Wortman, a 72-year-old OB-GYN of Rochester, NY, died in a bizarre airplane accident on Sunday when the reportedly hand-built aircraft he was flying in broke apart mid-air and went down in pastureland upstate. According to reporting by The Associated Press, the National Transportation Safety Board said the failing aircraft was a Wittman W-5 Buttercup airplane. Sheriff Christopher Bourke said in a news release that “the wings of the aircraft became detached from the fuselage and fell to the ground in an orchard,” and the fuselage continued to fly through the air for another 1000 to 1500 yards before crashing. Wortman was seated as a passenger in the two-place, hand-built plane, and it’s not yet clear who built the craft.
Wortman last made national news in 2021 when he was sued by one of his patients who also turned out to be his biological daughter. At the age of 35, Morgan Hellquist had been a gynecological patient of Dr. Wortman’s for 10 years when she filed the lawsuit. That’s a relationship that requires intimate physicality and trust and she presumably trusted his skills as an OB-GYN. Her mother had been his patient during the ’80s, receiving fertility treatments, and was eventually inseminated with what she thought was donor sperm to become pregnant with Hellquist. The insemination was obviously successful.
When Hellquist, who believed herself to be an only child, decided to take an over-the-counter DNA test, she found out via the DNA database that she had at least nine half-siblings and that they were all fathered by “sperm donors.” According to court documents obtained by New York Post, Hellquist was suspicious of her doctor because she had also found out from her DNA test that she is 50% Ashkenazi Jewish, and Wortman is 100%. The suit also describes how Dr. Wortman allegedly told Hellquist an inappropriate amount of personal stories and became emotional about her, telling her, “You’re a good kid. Such a good kid,” at one point.
A daughter Wortman had with his wife agreed to take a DNA test, which confirmed she and the other patients’ children were indeed half-siblings with Hellquist, who moved to take legal action. In addition to accusing Wortman of medical malpractice by committing what is called “fertility fraud,” or the practice of physicians lying about the sperm they use, her lawsuit included malpractice claims because Wortman allegedly knew he was her father for years while he continued to treat her, giving her pelvic and breast exams, asking about her sexual experience, etc.
A March 2022 update on the case via RochesterFirst.com noted that at that point, 17 children fathered by Wortman had been identified.
(featured image: Pornpak Khunatorn/Getty Images)
