Another former mission president in legal trouble

Discussions toward a better understanding of LDS doctrine, history, and culture. Discussion of Christianity, religion, and faith in general is welcome.
Post Reply
User avatar
lostintime
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:59 pm

Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by lostintime »

Sorry if this is a repost, but I didn't see it anywhere. I saw this in the news the other day but didn't connect it to mormonism until someone over on reddit pointed it out. I know not everyone here frequents reddit, so I thought I'd share. I woman decided to determine her ancestry by sending her DNA in to Ancestry.com and found her biological father was her mother's fertility doctor. The church's own tools are now coming back to bite them.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... te-patient

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2 ... president/

The church is lucky that as of right now it appears that only Utah news outlets are making the connection between him and the church. This poor family.
Corsair
Posts: 3080
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:58 am
Location: Phoenix

Re: Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by Corsair »

I love the fact that a DNA test brought up this scandal. The church loves family history connections and was so excited with DNA testing getting people excited to learn about their ancestors. There is no way that the scandals end this week. May other long buried family secrets will be revealed in time.

My in-laws got DNA tests for Christmas from their children. I don't expect any scandalous surprises but maybe this new news story will be brought up in the course of their own education on lineage and DNA.
User avatar
Rob4Hope
Posts: 1359
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 1:43 pm
Location: Salt Lake City -- the Motherland!!

Re: Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by Rob4Hope »

You know....wasn't the church all big into DNA originally because it wanted to prove the Lamanite thing? and now they maintain the illusion of being pro-family (which I dispute by the way)?

I've heard more than one story about things like this happening.
User avatar
2bizE
Posts: 2466
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:33 pm

Re: Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by 2bizE »

I’m sure these folks felt deceived like many of us when reading through the essays for the first time. He probably wanted to save money and rather than paying a tall, dark, handsome male for his sperm, he used his own.
~2bizE
User avatar
Palerider
Posts: 2280
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:44 am

Re: Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by Palerider »

You know, I just have this nagging feeling that this might not have been the first or only time Dr. Mortimer used his own "Celestial priesthood privilege" to inseminate a patient.

Makes one wonder how many previous patients are going to have their own dna checked out now that the cat's out of the bag.
"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily."

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light."

George Washington
User avatar
BlackMormon
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:55 am

Re: Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by BlackMormon »

The Dr probably thought he was helping someone bring a special child into the world. I wouldn't sue, I would be grateful the child turned out OK. Like posted above, maybe it wasn't the first time the doctor sowed his oats. There is a very funny movie about this type of thing happening. If you have time, watch it on YouTube. The guy fathered 500+ children by donating his sperm. Then over 140 of those kids filed a class action law suit to know who their father was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF1x9oupG14
User avatar
moksha
Posts: 5293
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:22 am

Re: Another former mission president in legal trouble

Post by moksha »

Here is the case of another Mormon fertility specialist, Dr. Cecil Jacobson, as shown in a documentary by the famed researchers at the SNL Institute:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/ ... 4049?snl=1

BTW, I imagine that LDS Ancestry.com will be careful from now on about not linking any other genetic parentage to LDS fertility doctors or else they will answer to the LDS law firm of Kirton McConkie.
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha
Post Reply