4000 Embryos Damaged

University Hospitals Fertility Clinic in Cleveland, OH has now notified more than 900 fertility patients and their families that more than 4000 stored frozen eggs and embryos have been damaged or destroyed when temperatures rose in a storage tanks. According to Dr. James Liu, Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,

 

“There is evidence that some of the eggs and embryos were damaged.”

The freezer unit in question stored more than 4,000 eggs and embryos.  Although the storage tank had off-site monitoring and an audible alarm that would alert staff to such a temperature change, the external alarms were turned off. The internal alarm at the hospital was sounding on that Sunday morning when staff arrived, but there was no one in the facility the previous night.

UH Fertility Clinic

University Hospitals Fertility Clinic is located in Beachwood, Ohio and has been offering the following reproductive services: Ovulation Induction, Intrauterine Insemination, Tubal Sterilization Reversal, In Vitro Fertilization (“IVF”), Fertility Preservation, Sperm Banking, and Egg Freezing. According to the headline on UH Fertility Center’s website, they are “Providing Individualized, Compassionate Care to Help Families Grow.”

This is not the case for the 1000 families. UH Fertility Clinic promised to safeguard and protect these frozen embryos and eggs, vouching to provide “best-in-class care.” Families chose UH Fertility Clinic for an opportunity to raise their own children. Despite UH Fertility Clinic’s agreement to maintain this position of extreme trust and fidelity, they Recklessly or Negligently Damaged or Destroyed over 4000 Eggs and Embryos.

UH Admits Embryos Were Damaged

After the story broke about the freezer malfunction, UH Fertility Clinic released a statement on their Facebook page. Patti DePompei, President of UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, addressed this horrible incident and said, “At this point, we do not know the viability of all of the stored embryos, but we do know that some have been impacted.”

Although UH Fertility Clinic claims to be “investigating a recent incident at our Fertility Clinic involving an unexpected temperature fluctuation in the storage bank,” Peiffer Wolf will be conducting our own investigation on behalf of all of the families impacted by this tragedy. We are committed to getting answers for these families and making sure the proper parties are held accountable.