Houston couples say IVF clinic implanted dead embryos
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Five Houston couples seeking in vitro fertilization at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute say clinicians there knowingly implanted damaged and dead embryos.
Why it matters: The accusations were laid out in a lawsuit by the couples, who are seeking more than $1 million in damages from the clinic and CooperSurgical Inc.
Driving the news: The suit, filed this week in state District Court, alleges the clinic used faulty technology from CooperSurgical to freeze the patients' embryos, eggs and sperm for IVF.
- The lawsuit alleges that Aspire Houston's facility in Piney Point Village experienced a "catastrophic failure" from using CooperSurgical's technology in February or March.
- That failure led to the "massive loss of viable embryos," the suit alleges.
Yes, but: The couples say Aspire Houston never told them about the failure and continued to use the nonviable embryos for IVF treatment.
- "Aspire's personnel betrayed the trust of its patients," the lawsuit alleges. "[They] continued to perform invasive embryo transfer procedures on patients, implanting embryos that were dead or dying, thereby exposing hopeful mothers to unnecessary medical risk and severe emotional distress."
The other side: A spokesperson for Aspire Houston denied the allegations in a statement to Axios.
- "To be clear, at no time did Aspire ever knowingly transfer non-viable tissue," an Aspire Houston spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "These allegations are false and defamatory."
Aspire Houston acknowledged there was a "moderate decrease" in pregnancy rates during the period they used the CooperSurgical technology to freeze embryos but said the two "may or may not be related."
- "Immediately upon identifying this potential issue, we halted use of this media," the spokesperson said. "Upon returning to our previously used media, our survival rates returned to our industry leading standards."
Of note: CooperSurgical did not respond to a request for comment.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Aspire Houston Fertility Institute.