Morris Wortman, the director of The Center for Menstrual Disorders, has been named as one of the two victims of a plane crash in upstate New York. He was facing a lawsuit over claims he used his own sperm to impregnate multiple patients. Photo courtesy of Google Maps
June 2 (UPI) — A gynecologist facing a lawsuit over claims he used his own sperm to impregnate multiple patients has been named as one of the two victims of a plane crash in upstate New York.
Morris Wortman, 72, was riding in a “hand-built experimental aircraft” being flown by 70-year-old Earl J. Luce Jr. when it crashed around 5:42 p.m. on Sunday in a pasture in the town of Yates, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release published by local news outlet Video News Service.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the wings of the aircraft became detached from the fuselage and fell to the ground landing in an orchard,” officials said in the statement.
“The fuselage of the aircraft continued west approximately 1,000 to 1,500 yards before crashing into a pasture behind a residence.”
Wortman was the director of The Center for Menstrual Disorders, a private office in Rochester he founded in 1986.
“In addition to his accomplishments in gynecology, Wortman is also a world-class aviator and presently holds three U.S. National and three World Aviation Speed Records recognized by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale,” the clinic’s website reads.
Wortman and his practice were sued in 2021 by the daughter of a woman who alleged he used his own sperm to impregnate her in 1985 when she sought to become pregnant through a sperm donor, CNN reported.
The woman claimed in court documents that she found out through DNA testing that she had at least 13 half-siblings — at least six of whom were all donor-conceived and born between 1981 and 1985.