Nine Southern California couples have filed a lawsuit accusing the Ovation Fertility lab of negligence and recklessness for implanting dead embryos into would-be mothers, according to attorneys.
“Late January of this year, Ovation committed a catastrophic error in their laboratory in which they exposed embryos to lethal chemicals, killing them,” attorney Rob Marcereau said. “They killed all nine of our clients’ embryos along with, we believe, many other people’s.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Ovation Fertility knew that the embryos were killed during the implantation thawing process but did not disclose it to the clients, according to Marcereau.
“I just wonder how many more couples their negligence has touched,” Brooke Berger, one of the plaintiffs, said. We want this to not happen again.”
Ovation Fertility blamed temperature levels and incubator failure when questioned by clients, according to the lawsuit. The families’ attorneys said the clinic informed the families that hydrogen peroxide was used rather than distilled water.