Dr. Quincy Fortier ~ Case of Psycho Fertility Doctor Playing God ~ Conclusion

 

I am going to conclude the story on Dr Quincy Fortier, although there are a couple dozen more medical professional names I could add to this story, I wanted to solely discuss this case for now...

In the mid -2000's, two of Quincy Fortier's former patients decided to go ahead and charge and sue the doctor for fertility fraud; the court case was settled out of court. 

Sounds to me like they were offered hush money,as Dr Quincy Fortier never had to openly admit any of his despicable actions and the families were forbidden from publicly speaking about what had happened to them; unfortunately for him, but fortunately for his victims, there were several more people who had been dealt the same devestating blow from him and were not in on the court case and never consented to remain quiet!!! 

(In a sick twist, Quincy Fortier acknowledged the paternity of the four children involved in the court case and put the wording in such a way, to leave it open to the possibility that there could be more biological children later revealed).

As I had mentioned before, Wendi Babst was a police detective, and she used her sleuthing expertise, continuing to dig into Dr Fortier and any records she could find on the man whom she shared DNA with, (I will not call him her father because he truly was nothing more than a sperm donor in this case and doesn't deserve the title of "dad" or "father" in ANY sense of the word!!!) Wendi discovered a trail of allegations of sexual abuse and molestation, (a word we loved to use back in the day, rather than rape of sexual assault), leading back to the "good" doctor; involving him and his own stepchildren. Can this man get any more sick???

One of his stepchildren he inseminated with his own sperm then sent her to a home for unwed mothers. The child ended up being a boy who was named, Jonathan. I would say he was very blessed to be adopted by a family in Minnesota. 

Another person who ended up being Dr Quincy Fortier's biological son, Brad Gulko, who is a human genomics scientist, had tried to justify the motives for why Fortier did it; admitting he is struggling with it all, feeling that maybe Fortier felt he was justified in his own mind and what he was doing didn't violate any ethical norms. (I beg to differ!!!) It definitely was a struggle between the age old question of nature versus nurture for sure.

Fortier’s two youngest children,  stood by him throughout his trials; even after his death, they would say their father was a kind, generous man. One daughter, Sonia Fortier, says she does not want to know if the abuse allegations were true. (Fortier denied the charges, according to the Review-Journal, and no charges were ever brought). 

I can understand that they loved the man they knew, but I cannot respect their choice to stand behind him and keep the rose coloured glasses on and be in full denial about what is proven right to their faces. It is a little disturbing, making me question their personal sanity...

Ironically, their views are met with agreement, if you have a chance to watch the documentary on HBO, you will notice that two former colleagues of Dr Quincy Fortier had no qualms about what he did. They were using very sexist mentality that the doctor knew best and that these women didn't need to know what was truly going on as in the end they had the child(ren) they wanted, so it didn't matter where the sperm came from; they should just be grateful they were able to bear a child of their own.

The ends were always justifying the means, and since freezing sperm was not a practice until the 80's, whatever worked was done. I can say I am eternally happy I didn't live in that era because this was not just these two colleagues views, it was a common attitude and mentality of that time; especially since going to a fertility clinic was soooo taboo, like I originally stated. SICK!!!

After Fortier and Cline's cases, some of the descendants tried to change the laws, but there truly wasn't really much that could be done, as what had happened was already illegal, it was assault, it was battery, it was molestation, it was rape. It was definitely malpractice, but at the end of the day, what these people all needed was peace of mind; could they truly accept how they came into this world and be at peace with the family they grew up with, or would their biology haunt them forever??? 

We hope they can find some sense of peace and being; that they can establish themselves as individuals apart from their DNA and genes.