Thousands of frozen eggs and embryos may have been damaged following the malfunctioning of a fertility clinic storage tank.
When the tank at the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco stopped working properly on 4 March, temperatures inside rose. A spokesperson told the that 鈥渟everal thousand鈥� eggs and聽embryos were affected 鈥� around 15 per cent of the total stored there. Reportedly, 400 people had all their stored eggs and embryos in the malfunctioning tank, while a further 100 had at least some tissue affected.
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Over the same weekend, a similar incident occurred at University Hospitals Fertility Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where around 2000 eggs and embryos are thought to be affected.
It is currently unclear to what extent the tissue involved in these incidents may have been damaged or聽if it is still fit for use in treatments. A聽couple with embryos stored at the Cleveland clinic filed a class action lawsuit on 11 March.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淔ertility clinic malfunctions鈥�
