Mom Uses Fertility Doctor Only To Uncover Doctor’s Elaborate Deception

Commercial DNA Testing

Genetic testing has been significant since its prominence in the 1980s. With tests used for forensic analysis and paternity tests, the world quickly became acquainted with them.

But since DNA testing became commercialized and advertised for home use, some people discovered things about themselves they never would’ve known – , sometimes good, other times not.

Trying It Out

One of the people who discovered some dark past secrets, thanks to commercial DNA testing, was Jessica Stavena. 

When she did the test, she wasn’t expecting to learn much since everyone knew she got conceived through artificial insemination.

Yet when the results arrived, they revealed some unexpected and shocking information.

Secrets Surfacing

Jessica never expected the test to reveal information about her biological father, but it did, and what she learned shook her to her core. 

The examination revealed information that would change not only her life but that of her family forever.

What could a DNA test possibly reveal that’s so life-altering?

History

Jessica was born in 1987 through artificial insemination at a clinic in California. She was a miracle child that came as a blessing to her parents since they spent years trying and failing to conceive.

The secret behind her conception started unraveling years later, and that secret came as a huge surprise to her entire family.

The Real Dad

To Jessica, her real dad was just a number, a file hidden in some cupboard, never to resurface. But then she got a hint and what she discovered when taking a commercial DNA test changed her life forever. 

He was no longer a number, but the truth was much worse than she imagined.

Who Is Jessica?

Jessica is now a young mother of three and lives in Houston. She runs a successful medical spa at a Houston plastic surgery practice and has a fulfilling life. What more could she want?

Was a search for answers what led to her doing the DNA test? Or was it something much simpler?

Routine Test

Jessica is now a young mother of three and lives in Houston. She runs a successful medical spa at a Houston plastic surgery practice and has a fulfilling life. When she tried a consumer DNA test as a way to discover the origins of a troubling gastrointestinal issue, she discovered something grim.

When she got her online test results back after a few months, she was confused. Jessica was matched with several unexpected half-siblings from the company’s DNA database.

What Happened?

In 1984, Jessica’s mother, Pauline Chambless, went to Dr. Kim McMorries in Nacogdoches for medical help after she had tried for more than a decade to have a child. 

Pauline was feeling hopeless and distraught. Being a mother was one of her biggest dreams, but several attempts to get pregnant failed.

Next Steps

Before meeting Dr. McMorries, Pauline had tried several other clinics, but the results were always the same. 

After so many failed attempts, she was skeptical, but Dr. McMorries promised she would have a child if she followed his instructions and treatment.  

The doctor’s words gave Pauline the hope she longed to have, and she agreed.

Simple Medical Procedure

Dr. McMorries told Pauline that the procedure would be simple, and Pauline hoped the treatment would finally bless her with the child she wanted so badly.

All she ever wanted was to be a mother. After struggling for so many years, she was willing to try anything to have a child of her own. 

Not All Hope Is Lost

Pauline went through multiple attempts to get pregnant with Dr. McMorries’ help, but they were unsuccessful. 

They went through various donors listed at the California sperm bank, but their attempts were futile.

Pauline started losing hope, but then Dr. McMorries informed her of a donor they hadn’t tried yet.

Last Resort

Dr. McMorries informed Pauline that he had located a local sperm donor he described as a tall, red-haired, music-loving medical resident at a nearby hospital. The thought made the flicker of hope in her chest flare.

Pauline saw this new potential donor as her last resort, and she decided to give it a chance hoping it would finally work out.

Finally

The attempt was successful, Pauline fell pregnant, and her daughter Jessica was born in March 1987. 

It was the happiest day of her life, and at the time, she couldn’t fathom how her decision would impact her daughter’s life years later.

The father was a random stranger who would never find out about her, or would he?

Happy Family

Pauline Chambless lived a happy life with her husband and raised her daughter Jessica the best she could. Jessica was a blessing, and Pauline was grateful for her miracle child. 

She had no idea that decades later, her daughter would unravel a secret that would shake the entire family to the core. 

Shocking

When looking at the DNA test results, Jessica discovered that she had three half-siblings, two sisters, and a brother. She was shocked and thrilled by the idea of having many siblings.

But things didn’t end there. A few days later, Jessica received an email from a woman called Eve Wiley, asking if Dr. McMorris had also treated her mother.

Troubling News

After clarifying some information, Eve informed Jessica that she was her half-sister. She also told Jessica their father was not who they assumed he was.

No tall, red-haired, music-loving medical resident at a nearby hospital was donating to the clinic. It was all a lie crafted by Dr. McMorries so women would accept the cells on offer.

Who Was It?

Eve also told Jessica that the sperm donor wasn’t a stranger. He had a vital role in her conception and the conception of multiple children whose parents came to him for artificial insemination. Eve had discovered who their father was, and the news was grim. 

Just like her half-sister, Jessica’s father was, in fact, Dr. McMorries himself.

“I Have a Sister”

Eve Wiley’s mother had used the same doctor to conceive her. Their mothers lived in the same area and were victims of their doctor’s misguided decision decades ago. 

When she turned 16 and decided to dig into her biological father, Eva discovered the shocking truth. For years both Eve and her mother believed that her father was “Donor 106” but it turned out that they were wrong.

Same Scenario

In 1986, Eve’s parents visited Dr. McMorries for the same reason as Jessica’s mother and, the results were the same. Eve Wiley and her mother believed her biological father to be “Donor 106” for years. 

She got to know this donor, they bonded over the father-daughter relationship, only to find out that he wasn’t her dad. 

Surprise Dad

It was decades later when Jessica discovered that she shared dozens of half-siblings, she also found out who the donor of half her genes was. It was the same doctor that administered the insemination. 

Dr. McMorries used his cells to inseminate Jessica’s mother. He was her actual father and not some red-haired medical student. 

Telling Mom

Besides the life-changing news, she also faced another difficult challenge. She had to tell her mother what she learned. 

The news brought Jessica’s mother to tears. The way the doctor deceived her felt beyond unfair. She was angry, and she wasn’t about to stand for it without doing anything. 

Registered Donor

When questioned about the events, Dr. McMorries explained that he became a sperm donor as a medical student at the University of Texas in 1970. 

Dr. McMorries said he never told Jessica’s mother or other patients the truth because protocols were to keep all donors anonymous. The news was unacceptable for the distraught woman. 

Filing a Complaint

In March 2020, Jessica and her mother decided to file a complaint against Dr. McMorries with the Texas Medical Board. She had pleaded with the board to discipline the doctor for lying to and impregnating patients. 

To Jessica, what the doctor did was a horrific act. He took advantage of her mother’s trust during one of her most vulnerable moments. 

Eve Joins the Fight

Eve also filed complaints and supplied detailed medical records to the same Texas Medical Board. The two women were committed to their fight and wanted to see the deceiving doctor go down. 

The sisters went even further and decided to ensure no woman would have to endure the same thing again.

Fighting Together

Even though Jessica and Eve’s parents didn’t chose for them to be sisters the women stood together to take the doctor on. They wanted to inform people of what happened to their mothers so that cases such as those could be put to an end.

No woman should be deceived like that and they would make sure the crime was punishable.

Changing Laws

Eve and Jessica inspired the passage of one of the nation’s strictest laws against a practice that is now called “fertility fraud.” In an emotional testimony to Texas senators, Eve described how she learned of McMorries’ deception and how devastated she was about the news.

After hearing the touching story, Texas legislators made it a severe felony for any Texas doctor to impregnate patients using their cells.

Doctor McMorries’s confession

During her statement Eve revealed that she contacted Dr. McMorries and that he wrote back to her admitting that he mixed his sperm with that of other donors to increase her mother’s chance of conception.  

He also claimed that he got her mother’s consent to use the sperm of a local donor, which her mother denies.

Losses

Even though their complaints were taken seriously by the Texas Medical Board and new laws were implimented Eve and Jessica will never be able to turn back time to help their mother’s avoid this type of malpractice. 

The damage has already been done and they have to live with the doctor’s decisions.

Gains

But Eve and Jessica did get something out of this that they never expected. They found each other and they have been standing together since the beginning. 

They each have a sister that they never thought they’d have.  So a bit of good came out of their tragic situation after all.

 

In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events, places, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.