2,000 frozen eggs and embryos possibly 'compromised' after fertility clinic temperature malfunction

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

2,000 frozen eggs and embryos possibly ‘compromised’ after fertility clinic temperature malfunction

By Samantha Schmidt March 9 at 5:57 AM

More than 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos stored at a Cleveland-area fertility clinic may no longer be viable after temperatures in a storage bank rose over the weekend.

A liquid nitrogen storage tank at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center unexpectedly heated up sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, hospital administrators told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. While the extent of the loss is still unclear, the hospital informed about 700 patients that their frozen eggs and embryos may have suffered damage. Some of the samples were frozen in the 1980s.

University Hospitals does not know how or why the temperature fluctuated and has launched an investigation to determine what happened, it said in a statement Thursday. It is unknown whether the problem was caused by a human error or mechanical failure.

The potential damage to hundreds or thousands of eggs would be a devastating financial and emotional blow to the respective patients, which include women donating their eggs, women hoping to delay a pregnancy or women storing extra embryos while they undergo in vitro fertilization.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/09/2000-frozen-eggs-and-embryos-possibly-compromised-after-fertility-clinic-temperature-malfunction/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Are the anti AB freaks out screaming "SAVE THE BABIES?"

[denverbill]

2. I would assume they'd be demanding 2000 counts of murder against the clinic.

[phylny]

3. Such a terrible thing for couples hoping to have a baby this way. n/t