Human Embryos Possibly Damaged At Fertility Clinic In Cleveland

CLEVELAND, OH — Thousands of eggs and embryos in storage at a University Hospitals fertility clinic were potentially damaged during a temperature fluctuation, University Hospitals said. It is not yet clear if the specimens are still viable.

"Right now, our patients come first. We are incredibly sorry this happened. We are committed to getting answers and working with patients individually to address their concerns. We have already initiated contact with all of our patients to inform them and respond to their questions, and set up a designated call center to arrange personal meetings or calls with their physicians," the hospital system said in a statement.

More than 2,000 eggs were being kept in storage and more than 700 patients could be impacted by this incident. The specimens are kept in liquid nitrogen at the tissue storage bank. The temperature fluctuation could have left the embryos and eggs unusable.

"At this point, we do not know the viability of all the stored eggs and embryos, although we do know some have been impacted," said Patti DePompei, president of UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital.

The fertility clinic stored eggs and embryos for women undergoing in vitro fertilization, women donating eggs and women hoping to start pregnancy at a later point. The loss of these eggs and embryos could be devastating to those patients, both emotionally and financially.

In order to determine the usability of the embryos and eggs, the specimens will need to be completely unthawed, News 5 reports. The problem with unthawing is the specimens cannot be refrozen. The hospital system said it is reaching out to patients individually, through letters and phone calls, to determine paths forward.

An investigation into the incident, and how it happened, has been started. "We are bringing in independent experts to ensure we understand all aspects of this occurrence and do everything possible to address the situation," the hospital system said.

"We are so very sorry this happened," DePompei said.

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