California Lawsuits Say Fertility Operation Destroyed Embryos

Several lawsuits in California were filed against Ovation Fertility, a large network of fertility clinics, were filed by former patients whose embryos were destroyed due to a reported critical error at the company’s Orange County branch.

The lawsuits were filed in California Superior Court in Orange County by Adam Wolf of the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise.

According to the lawsuits, in January at the Newport Beach branch of Ovation Fertility, a laboratory employee wrongly used hydrogen peroxide instead of a sterile solution in an incubator, effectively killing all of the embryos that were placed in the incubator. Ovation then transferred these dead embryos to its patients, and none of the patients became pregnant.

One of the lawsuits alleges several complaints, including negligence, fraud, medical battery and premises liability. It seeks past, present, and future non-economic damages in an amount to be determined at the time of trial.

According to its website, Ovation Fertility has14 in-vitro fertilization labs across 10 states.