DENVER — At least 10 people have been left to believe they are half-siblings with the same donor they say is Dr. Paul Jones.
“I wanted to know my health history,” Shawna Hults said.
“I’m super into genealogy,” Maia Emmons-Boring said.
“I was really interested in the heath side of things,” Crystal McPheeters said.
Three strangers with a similar curiosity did what millions have — a DNA test with Ancestry.com or 23 and Me. However, their results traced back to one man.
“There’s no one else on this planet that can relate to our exact situation,” Emmons-Boring said.
“After all this, we have 10 half-siblings that we are aware of at this time, ranging from 1978 to 1997,” Hults said.
Almost a dozen strangers across the country are related to a fertility doctor in Grand Junction and Woman`s Healthcare of Western Colorado.
“Each of the siblings was coming forward and we all have the same story,” Hults said. “My mom went to Dr. Jones, my mom went to doctor Jones, you start to think in the back of your mind after ten Dr. Jones’ that something is going on here.”
The siblings say Jones helped their mothers conceive.
“He was the big doctor in town in a small community,” Charlene Madsen said.
Madsen went to Jones for artificial insemination.
“I was under the impression that it was an anonymous donor,” Madsen said.
Emmons-Boring`s mom, who is suing Jones, claims he told her the same thing.
“He explained that it would be like a medical student or a law student in the area that they would use,” Emmons-Boring said.
However, this year, Emmons-Boring believes she identified Jones as the donor in at least 10 cases.
“On January 24th, I linked some paternal second cousins to Jones’ mother,” Emmons-Boring said.
“Then when Maia said, ‘Hey, I did this genealogy thing and it does come back to him,’ I felt really angry and I felt sick to my stomach,” McPheeters said. “It was just a shocking blow.”
On Nov. 1, Jones voluntarily surrendered his medical license. He denies allegations that he used his own “fresh sperm” to impregnate multiple patients.
“I personally hope he has to publicly open up about what he did,” Emmons-Boring said.
Emmons-Boring and her family filed a lawsuit against Jones and Woman`s Healthcare of Western Colorado. Other siblings say they plan to do the same.
“I want to know his health history, I want to know why and I want legislation preventing this from happening to anybody else,” Hults said.
Jones did not respond to request for comment.
The health center said it is aware of the lawsuit but declined to comment.