Surrogate’s suit alleges clinic used her ovum without consent
A woman is suing a B.C. fertility clinic for allegedly failing to get permission from her to use her ovum to impregnate another woman.
In 2011, Alicia Chonn agreed to act as a surrogate to carry a child for a couple via invitro fertilization with the help of the Olive Fertility Centre, according to a lawsuit filed by Chonn in B.C. Supreme Court.
The plan was for the ovum from the wife of the couple, who is only referred to as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, and the sperm from the husband, identified as John Doe, to be used to create an embryo that would be used to impregnate Chonn.
The attempted implantation procedure failed to result in a child being born, but Chonn offered the use of her own ovum and became a natural surrogate, a move that resulted in a boy being born in March 2015.
In her lawsuit, which names the clinic and three of its doctors as defendants, Chonn says that in December 2015 she was driving to work when she got a phone call from the clinic “hurriedly and forcefully” asking her for consent to use one of the embryos created with her ovum to impregnate Jane Doe.
“The plaintiff was not emotionally prepared to make such an important decision at the time and on such short notice,” says the suit. “The plaintiff was in a state of shock and surprise and did not issue her consent to the procedure.”
The suit says that Chonn made an overture indicating there was nothing she could really do to stop the clinic from proceeding, which her suit alleges the clinic “incorrectly, negligently and maliciously” acted on and attempted to construe as her consent.
The implantation of Chonn’s ovum resulted in Jane Doe giving birth to a boy in August 2016, says the writ.
The birth of the second male child has had “devastating emotional and psychiatric consequences” for the plaintiff resulting from her sense of being violated and used by the defendants for profit, it says.
Chonn says she also has feelings of not having any control over her ability to create and bring life into the world and isolation from the second boy and claims to suffer from depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder.
The suit says that Chonn reached a monetary settlement with Jane Doe and John Doe regarding any civil liability resulting from the use of her reproductive tissue and the sum needed to be deducted from any damages assessed against the defendants at trial.
“The plaintiff was motivated to remove Jane Doe and John Doe from any threat of civil responsibility so that she could maintain a positive relationship with them thereby increasing the possibility of having a relationship with her two natural children who are in the custody of Jane Doe and John Doe.”
No response has yet been filed to the lawsuit, which contains allegations that have not been tested in court. The clinic was contacted by phone and email, but had not responded by press time.