Customer Reviews

Babymaker, The

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In his THE BABYMAKER, Rick Nelson presents the story of Dr. Cecil Jacobson, a Washington, D.C. area, and geneticist. As a young medical student and doctor, Jacobson was considered to be a prodigy in the field of genetics, advancing ideas that were often well before their times. Jacobson was considered a nice guy. He was also considered at times difficult and arrogant in that he felt he knew his field of medicine better than anyone else. He opened a clinic in Virginia in the late 1980s where he provided genetic counseling and top of the line amniocentesis testing for his patients. But unfortunately, he then opened an infertility practice, an area in which he was less than knowledgeable. This lack of knowledge, plus his refusal to acknowledge that he didn't understand the fine points of artificial insemination landed Jacobson in civil and criminal trouble.

Jacobson was not without his supporters. Many women credited him with their ability to conceive, but there were also many whom he treated dishonestly, telling them they were pregnant when they weren't, and then, when he eventually had to deal with the situation, telling them that their fetus had died. Obviously it was highly traumatic to the families who wanted a child so badly to be told that their baby - which had not existed in the first place - had died. And this scene could play out multiple times with the same family.

Finally, Jacobson also dabbled in the field of artificial insemination and it was scandalous, though not necessarily illegal, that he was found to have used his own semen to impregnate some of his clients.

Author Nelson has written a terrific work of true crime. The writing is drama-free, reportorial, and highly professional. Though there is no information about Jacobson as a child, the research in this book is impressive. What I found especially interesting about Jacobson is the impression I got from the book, though not specifically expressed by Nelson, that his failure to treat so many of his clients honestly and ethically stemmed not from a desire to pad bills and maintain a steady source of income - at least not primarily, his rates were cheap to begin with - but due to a kind of narcissism that would not allow him to admit to himself that he was working in an area where he lacked competence, that he might be wrong.

THE BABYMAKER is a fascinating and well-written book, and I highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

This book is a fascinating insight into a man who (for whatever reason) decided to play God. It was scary to realise that he could get away with it for so long and that even after he was proven guilty he was being defended by the medical establishment. This is a well written book and although the author was involved first hand in the case he does writes from a third person perspective which makes it easy to read.
I would recommend this book highly.