For U.S. fertility centers, the result is a near “Wild West” situation where meaningful oversight is absent, error reporting is essentially voluntary, and tragic cases of lost, destroyed or otherwise improperly handled embryos are on the rise, including more than 5,000 embryos and eggs known to have been lost or destroyed in less than two years. As one expert notes, America’s hands-off approach to oversight of reproductive practices has “left a gaping hole for a booming, unregulated market fraught with fraud and abuse.” In 2016, a national ratings website found that 18-24 percent of fertility patients reported damaged or destroyed samples, among a host of other errors.
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Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise: In a new lawsuit filed on August 7, 2019, Cincinnati’s Institute for Reproductive Health, the associated The Christ Hospital, and Ovation Fertility are accused of misconduct in the birth of a Columbus, Ohio, area woman who learned from a home DNA kit purchased as a Christmas gift that the man she thought was her biological father is not, and instead, may have been a doctor at The Christ Hospital.
The complaint filed by Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, LLP (Peiffer Wolf), on behalf of the Cartellone family of Ohio, is the latest in a surge of fertility center-related scandals in the U.S. Peiffer Wolf is currently working with hundreds of fertility center clients, including the Los Angeles couple who had their fertilized embryo implanted in a stranger in New York and then had to go to court after the child was born. Peiffer Wolf also is a major presence in litigation surrounding the large-scale embryo losses during the spring of 2018 at Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco and University Hospitals Fertility Center in Cleveland.
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After being contacted by a client whose embryos were destroyed years ago, the attorneys of Peiffer Wolf fought to hold the clinic accountable for their negligence. Once the pressure was put on the clinic, more families approached us with similar stories. It was only then that we realized how rampant and reckless certain hospitals, health systems, and facilities across the country truly are.
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Pacific Fertility Center promised to safeguard and protect these frozen eggs and embryos. However, over 1000 eggs and embryos have been compromised.
Over 400 families are left wondering how and why this happened. We aim to uncover the truth and provide these answers to the families left devastated by this event. They deserve to know the truth, and they deserve to be compensated. Although there is nothing that can replace these lost eggs and embryos, we can fight to hold Pacific Fertility Center accountable so something like this never happens again.
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UH Fertility Clinic promised to safeguard and protect these frozen eggs and embryos. However, over 4000 eggs and embryos have been compromised, damaged or destroyed.
More than 900 families are left wondering how and why this happened. We aim to uncover the truth and provide these answers to the families left devastated by this event. They deserve to know the truth, and they deserve to be compensated. Although there is nothing that can replace these lost eggs and embryos, we can fight to hold UH Fertility Clinic accountable so something like this never happens again.
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