Thousands Of Eggs And Embryos Lost, But Few Answers

Published March 29, 2018 at 9:00 AM CDT

This photo shows the University Hospital Ahuja Medical Center, Monday, March 12, 2018, in Beachwood, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

With Ray Suarez

A freezer failure at the University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio has made more than 4,000 eggs and embryos unviable, affecting more than 900 families. This is after another San Francisco fertility center lost eggs and embryos in a similar storage tank malfunction. We’ll wade through the heartache and discuss how this could have happened.

This show airs Thursday at 10 a.m. EST.

Guests:

Emily Petite: She and her husband lost embryos stored at University Hospital, and filed a lawsuit against University Hospital.

Lisa Campo-Engelstein: Professor at the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College.

Dr. Richard Paulson: Director of University of Southern California Fertility, Chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

Ginger Christ, healthcare reporter, Cleveland Plain-Dealer. ( @gchristcle)

From The Reading List:

CNN: “An Ohio fertility clinic says more than 4,000 eggs and embryos were affected by a freezer malfunction, double the number previously thought — and that it’s unlikely any of them are viable.”

ABC: “A San Francisco fertility clinic was sued again Thursday over the possible destruction of thousands of frozen eggs and embryos in a storage tank that malfunctioned.”

Cleveland Plain-Dealer: “As for equipment failure, UH said it had known for weeks prior to the incident that the two cryofreezers, one that stored sperm, and one that stored eggs and embryos, were both malfunctioning and the hospital was taking steps to remedy those problems.”

Letter from University Hospitals:

Two labs storing frozen embryos for people needing fertility help had recent catastrophic failures, rendering thousands of embryos no longer viable. In many cases these stored tissues were the last hope for pregnancy and child-rearing…the mishaps exposed the lightly regulated Wild West of reproductive technologies that have run out ahead of law, and ethical consensus.

This hour, On Point: Mismanaging our miracles, the pitfalls of reproduction tech.

— Ray Suarez