16 Mar Fertility Clinic Facing Class Action Lawsuit for Potential Damage to Eggs and Embryos
The San Francisco Examiner | Daniel Montes, Bay City News
By Bay City News on March 15, 2018 5:37 pm
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Attorneys representing a Sacramento-area couple have filed a class action lawsuit on their behalf against a San Francisco fertility clinic after the clinic announced earlier this week the potential destruction of thousands of eggs and embryos in storage.
The eggs and embryos, which were being stored at Pacific Fertility Center for in vitro fertilization procedures, were impacted due to a leak in the seal of a tissue storage tank, which allowed liquid nitrogen to dip below necessary levels, according to attorney Adam Wolf with the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane Abdullah Carr and Kane.
The attorneys are charging the clinic with negligence, breach of contract and conversion, or interfering with someone else’s property.
The couple, who are both in their mid to late 30s, had been paying Pacific Fertility $600 annually for about four years to store their eight embryos, Wolf said.
The couple had been planning on transferring their embryos, the final step for in vitro fertilization, next month. Those plans, however, have been quashed, according to the couple’s attorneys.
“Pacific has forced these people into an untenable position,” attorney Tracey Cowan said of the couple. “They are not sure if they have the financial means to even do this again.”
The price for the initial process of extracting eggs or embryos can cost at least $10,000, Cowan said.
According to the attorneys, when the leak was discovered, Pacific Fertility immediately notified patients but said the eggs and embryos had been impacted and could not confirm whether they had been irreversibly damaged. That could only be confirmed once the embryo has been thawed.
“Once you thaw them, you have to use them more or less immediately,” Cowan said.
The class action lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $5 million and the attorneys said they may take on more of the clinic’s patients as clients.
In addition to the lawsuit, Cowan said the law firm plans on working with regulators and legislators at all levels of government to change the fertility industry by creating more regulations for clinics and providing more protections for clients.
“What we really hope is that this never happens anywhere again,” Wolf said.
The law firm on Monday filed a similar class action lawsuit against a Cleveland hospital for the potential destruction of up to 2,000 eggs and embryos. Litigation also involving the loss or destruction of eggs and embryos is being handled by the firm in a hearing this week in Orange County.
Officials with Pacific Fertility Center were not immediately available for comment on the lawsuit.
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