18 Sep Couple files lawsuit accusing SoCal fertility clinic of throwing away their embryos

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A heartbroken couple says their hopes of starting a family has been crushed after a Southern California fertility clinic threw out their embryos.

A careless mistake may have forever cost Marissa Calhoun and Stephen Castaneda of the dream of having children together.

“Our embryos, the very ones that represented our dream of a family, had been thrown away,” Calhoun said.

Since 2021, Calhoun says she has endured three painful egg retrievals.

Last October, her eggs were fertilized and then placed into an incubator to grow into 16 viable embryos.

The couple entrusted the storage of their embryos to Reproductive Partners Medical Group, or RPMG.

“RPMG eventually admitted that an employee had not labeled the embryos before placing them in the incubator and later took the unlabeled embryos out of the incubator and just threw them away,” said attorney Adam Wolf, who is representing the couple.

The couple with Wolf is suing RPMG for reckless negligence, filing the lawsuit with Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“For nearly two decades my doctors told me that my chances of conceiving a child naturally were extremely low, that IVF was my best option of becoming a mother,” Calhoun said.

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The couple’s chance of having a biological child is likely gone, but they hope their story will help change how fertility clinic mistakes are reported.

“We think it’s vitally important that the public is aware that these kinds of issues happen,” Wolf said.

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Full Story: ABC7 September 17 2024