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Woman Takes DNA Test, Learns Her Real Dad Is Her Mom’s Doctor

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday April 05 2018, @11:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the but-not-like-you-thought dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

There are many reasons to avoid the plethora of direct-to-consumer DNA tests on the market these days. Recent data suggests that many may produce alarming false positives for disease risks, while others that claim to predict things like athletic abilities and wine preferences are simply dubious. Another, perhaps less-common concern is that an at-home genetic analysis may unveil completely unexpected, deeply disturbing information that you just can’t prepare for.

That was the case for Washington state’s Kelli Rowlette (née Fowler), who took a DNA test with the popular site Ancestry.com back in July 2017.

Rowlette was likely expecting to discover new details about her distant ancestors, but she instead learned that her DNA sample matched that of a doctor in Idaho. The Ancestry.com analysis predicted a “parent-child” relationship. Befuddled and in disbelief, Rowlette relayed the findings to her parents, Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler. According to a lawsuit the family filed in the US District Court of Idaho, she told her parents she was disappointed that the results were so unreliable.

But little did she know that her parents—who previously lived in Idaho—had trouble conceiving her and, in 1980, underwent an unusual fertility procedure with a doctor near their Idaho Falls home. The name of that doctor was Gerald E. Mortimer—who happened to have a DNA sample with Ancestry.com that matched Rowlette’s.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @11:38PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @11:38PM (#663176)

    Cucked!

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @11:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05 2018, @11:44PM (#663180)

    The Penis is Evil.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday April 06 2018, @12:07AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday April 06 2018, @12:07AM (#663194) Journal

    Gerald "Ejaculator" Mortimer is living the evolutionary dream.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Friday April 06 2018, @12:15AM (4 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday April 06 2018, @12:15AM (#663199)

    Huh? They were using donor sperm, and the husband's sperm was poor quality, so the husband was most likely going to be "cucked" no matter what. That's why they picked a donor with certain traits (over 6', college student, looks like the husband, etc.). They were lied to, and got the doctor's sperm instead.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday April 06 2018, @12:18AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday April 06 2018, @12:18AM (#663200) Journal

      It's a zero-cum... err, zero-sum game. Some random nobody got their chance to propagate denied by the Mighty Doctor Mortimer.

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      • (Score: 3, Touché) by Osamabobama on Friday April 06 2018, @06:48PM

        by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday April 06 2018, @06:48PM (#663512)

        Zero-çum game?

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    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Whoever on Friday April 06 2018, @04:56AM (1 child)

      by Whoever (4524) on Friday April 06 2018, @04:56AM (#663269) Journal

      This wasn't unusual.

      This week's episode of "This American Life" has a story abut someone who tried (and failed) to verify his paternity, but one of the things they discuss is that, back in the day, it was quite common for the family doctor to provide the sperm in place of a husband who is unable to provide sufficient viable sperm.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by darkfeline on Saturday April 07 2018, @03:51AM

        by darkfeline (1030) on Saturday April 07 2018, @03:51AM (#663657) Homepage

        Suddenly, "family doctor" takes on a whole new meaning.

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