About 11 couples in the United States have sued an in vitro fertility (IVF) provider for implanting “dead” and “toxic” embryos even though they knew they were not viable. According to ABC newsIn a joint lawsuit filed Tuesday, nine couples allege that employees at Ovation Fertility in California exposed the embryos to lethal levels of “poison.” They revealed that they had undergone implantations of the embryos in January this year, but none of them were successful.
According to the lawsuit, the couples blamed themselves and their bodies in the days and weeks after their failed pregnancies. Some even underwent medical procedures to figure out what went wrong. However, in February and early March, Ovation Fertility began revealing to their doctors that something had gone wrong in the labs, the outlet reported.
The lawsuit alleges that the fertility center only revealed something had gone wrong when several fertility doctors questioned why there was a 0% success rate for the embryos thawed over a two-week period, when the success rate is normally 75%. It also says Ovation tried to “trick” patients into signing waivers of their claims and non-disparagement agreements.
The nine couples came forward after two other couples announced a similar lawsuit last week, claiming their embryos were destroyed when a lab worker mistakenly used hydrogen peroxide instead of a sterile solution in an incubator.
Ovation Fertility is being sued on multiple counts, including negligence, medical battery, concealment, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, and loss of consortium.
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In a statement to ABC newsThe fertility center said it has protocols in place to protect the “health and integrity of every embryo in our care.” “This was an isolated incident related to an inadvertent error by a laboratory technician that affected a very small number of patients. As soon as we realized that pregnancy rates were lower than our typically high success rates, we immediately launched an investigation. We do not knowingly transfer non-viable embryos for implantation,” said Ovation Fertility.
“We have been in close contact with these few affected patients since the problem was discovered. We are grateful for the opportunity to help patients build families and will continue to implement and enforce strict protocols to protect that process,” it added.