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A woman who had three frozen embryos about to expire asked for them to be returned. (File photo)
Fertility Associates has been ordered to apologize to a woman and her husband after a clinic disposed of the embryos she wanted to collect and take to her mother’s grave.
A report released Monday by Deputy Commissioner for Health and Disability Rose Wall found that Fertility Associates Holdings Limited violated the patients’ rights code by failing to return embryos.
The report says that a couple, identified as Ms. Y Mr. A, underwent IVF in 2008, and Ms. A gave birth to their first child. He had three remaining embryos, which were frozen in storage.
In October 2017, Ms A and her husband were informed that the storage of their embryos was about to expire.
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They were given three options: discard the frozen embryos immediately and stop paying storage fees; continue to store the embryos and not request an extension of storage; or request an extension to continue storing them.
Ms A chose to discard the embryos from storage and chose the option of collecting the embryos within 14 days, with the plan of taking them to her mother’s grave.
The embryos were removed from storage after the 10-year expiration date, in July 2018.
However, the mobile phone data recovered during the investigation found no evidence that the clinic had contacted Ms A to collect it.
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Ms. A completed the “Consent to Discard Frozen Embryos” form and selected the option to collect the embryos from the clinic within 14 days, asking the clinic to contact her when ready. She never received a call. (File photo)
Meanwhile, the clinic disposed of the embryos by cremation.
Ms. A told HDC that she contacted the clinic once or twice in 2018 wondering what was going on, but received no response. She followed up by email in May 2019, and a doctor at the clinic called her and left her a voicemail that she didn’t hear.
In October 2019, Ms A called the clinic’s 0800 number and learned that her embryos had been removed 15 months earlier.
Wall was satisfied that Ms A had the right to make a decision about the return or disposal of the embryos.
However, the lack of an “effective system” resulted in the fertility clinic not returning the embryos as requested.
“The return of their embryos was clearly of great importance to [Mrs A], and their wishes should have been respected, ”Wall said.
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The woman had a child via IVF in 2009 and had three remaining embryos in storage for 10 years. (File photo)
“This did not happen, and it was an undeniable omission from the fertility clinic.”
Wall said the clinic needed a more efficient system to ensure the “important step” of contacting patients once their reproductive material was ready for collection was not missed.
Fertility Associates said it was “really sorry” that this happened and said it was not their usual practice.
A review of their incident database, which covers all clinics, showed that there had not been a similar case with frozen embryos or sperm in the last 10 years.
Wall recommended that the clinic audit 30 “consent to discard” forms to confirm that people’s requests were honored and update its procedures around collection correspondence.
He also recommended that the clinic provide further training and apologize to the couple.
