Doctor accused of impregnating patients with own sperm dies in plane crash

Originally published at: Doctor accused of impregnating patients with own sperm dies in plane crash | Boing Boing

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For once, an episode of Law & Order happens in real life and not the other way around.

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Preliminary findings indicate that “the wings of the aircraft became detached from the fuselage and fell to the ground in an orchard,” Sheriff Christopher Bourke said in a news release Monday. The fuselage continued west for another 1,000 to 1,500 yards before crashing.

That’s just awful.

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Yeah, those poor trees.

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Another weird ass story from Orleans County, the Florida of Western NY. This is a topic I have talked a bit about quite a few times in the BBS (like in the thread about the smile teacher story from Japan from a few days ago and in the comments about the BB article about the time somebody dumped a 500 pound mystery safe in a field in the same county a few years back).

I heard about the crash this weekend. The first thing I thought was that it was odd that the story wasn’t stranger than usual because of how shit is in that county. Woke up this morning and read it on The Daily Beast and then I thought “yup, this actually sounds like an Orleans County story now” lol.

The 911 dispatch center was called at 5:42 p.m. with reports of the crash. The two wings came off the plane and landed in an orchard on the eastside of Townline Road in Carlton.

The fuselage, the main body of the plane, landed in a cow pasture, missing a home with 11 children by a few hundred feet. The fuselage traveled about another 1,500 yards from the wings.

Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke said the plane left from the Gaines Valley Aviation airport on Route 279. The pilot was offering rides in the plane earlier in the day, Bourke said.

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That seems harsh. Setting aside whatever one might feel constitutes justice/karma for the doctor, there was a pilot at the controls of that plane who had nothing to do with the doctor’s crimes. To watch the wings fall off, then to cruise along for a bit, knowing one is helpless in the face of what’s about to happen, has to have been absolutely horrible for him.

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the wings of the aircraft became detached from the fuselage

Rookie mistake…
wings

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With so many offspring, I wonder how many attendees are going to be at the funeral? :man_shrugging:

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Unfortunately, that episode was indeed inspired by a different real life case.

Wikipedia’s article on Fertility Fraud lists 11 similar cases. It looks like many of these – including the doctor from this crash – have only been uncovered recently due to the proliferation of home DNA test kits.

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Oh god, I never would have thought that this would be a common occurrence. Fuck this timeline!

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Sadly, doctors are no more immune to the urge to act against the interest of their patients in order to get something for themselves than any other profession. We have a theoretical value to uphold, (see “Hippocratic Oath”) but there are plenty who do not feel that this should limit their privilege. About the only thing I can say for us is that when these sorts of things come to light, we tend to have very little tolerance for the perpetrators. I hate this timeline.

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when the plane had a mechanical failure

The orleanshub.com wording there is probably a tad off. Sounds like a major structural failure, not a mechanical one. Questions for whoever built this replica and questions for whoever inspected the plane before that flight (usually a pilot’s responsibility, I think - too late to ask now).

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The pilot built it. It was a replica of the actual Buttercup design.

Experimental Aircraft Association member Earl Luce developed a replica Buttercup design which first flew April 14, 2002.[5] His representation of the Buttercup design is available as a set of plans for home builders.

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Oh dear. Nobody left to ask about it then.

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Do you know if there’s been any study done of the incentives in these sorts of cases? I’d assume that weird theories of genetic superiority and distasteful enthusiasm for impregnation comes up more often than one would like; but I could also imagine cases where some combination of active corner cutting and failure to cope properly with the requirements of sourcing, handling, and tracking donor gametes correctly would lead people to resort to the most immediately available supply of substitutes when a shortfall needs to be made up quickly and quietly.

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I am unaware of any data. My assumption (as always, beware of those) has always been sort of “I will assure that my genes are preserved and taken forward into the future!” mindset was responsible. But I guess it could be as simple as “Hell, it’s cheaper than buying the stuff!” No clue, other than it is an incredibly unethical and abusive practice and needs to be called out wherever it occurs.

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Might think twice about using those plans…

Judging by the tail number, the image of a plane in flight on that Wikipedia article is the very plane that crashed.

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Statistically, one of those 11 could have been his.

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Looks like it flew fine for 20 years though

I’m not familiar with this particular aircraft but if this is a design that has foldable wings they require meticulous inspections of the wing root. They’re held in place by a hinge and a cotter pin and are a point of failure.

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I honestly think the majority of the counties in WNY could be called that. The weirdness doesn’t stop at the county line.

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