Fertility Clinic Meltdowns Destroyed Frozen Eggs and Embryos. What Happens Now?

Simultaneous refrigeration failures at two fertility clinics in San Francisco and suburban Cleveland have damaged or destroyed potentially thousands of frozen eggs and embryos in the biggest such loss on record in the U.S. The malfunctions have left parents-to-be heartbroken and baffled experts. Here are some questions and answers about the two cases. ___ What happened? In Ohio, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center estimates 2,000 eggs and embryos may have been damaged or destroyed when an unexplained storage tank malfunction caused temperatures to rise on March 4. The medical center apologized. On the same day in San Francisco, an embryologist at the Pacific Fertility Clinic noticed the liquid nitrogen level in one tank was very low during a routine check, clinic president Dr. Carl Herbert told ABC. He said the tank was immediately replenished and the embryos were later transferred to a new tank. There’s no known connection between the two episodes, said Dr. Kevin Doody, lab director at the Center for Assisted Reproduction in Texas and past president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology. He said such breakdowns are extremely rare, and two at once is “beyond stunning.” “It’s two black swan events happening in the same day. One of them causes the beehive to buzz. Two? We’re all in shock,” Doody said. Officials have yet to say exactly what went wrong. Barbara Collura, president of the patient advocacy group RESO...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized APH fertility healthytime onetime Source Type: news