Top fertility doctor denounces ‘persecution’ amid claims he stole eggs
Italy’s ‘grandmothers’ obstetrician’ investigated after woman alleges he forcibly removed her eggs
A PIONEERING Italian fertility doctor accused of forcibly harvesting women’s eggs has denounced the allegations against him as a witch hunt amid a widening investigation into the industry.
Severino Antinori, known in Italy as the “grandmothers’ obstetrician,” has been placed under house arrest and his medical licence suspended while he is investigated over the claims.
Dr Antinori is also accused of paying women up to €1,000 (£790) per egg, which is illegal under Italian fertility laws.
His arrest was triggered by a complaint by a 24-year-old Spanish woman who claimed her eggs were taken without her consent last month at the physician’s Matris clinic in Milan.
According to Italian investigators the woman, who was working as a nurse at the clinic, claims she was forcibly immobilised and anaesthetised before her eggs were surgically harvested against her will, in April.
Deprived of her mobile phone, she called emergency services from a clinic telephone, leading to the investigation. She claims she believed she was being treated for an ovarian cyst.
However, one of Dr Antinori’s law- yers, Tommaso Pietrocarlo, said that the woman signed a consent form for egg donation a month before the surgery after a “consultation with a psychologist” who said she was conscious of the choice and said that it “did not pose any problem”.
“This is a persecution. I never forced anyone to do anything,” Dr Antinori said. “Why would I have to steal eggs? I’m innocent, and always only did good.”
Dr Antinori says he has been harassed by authorities in Italy since the 1970s for his pioneering yet controversial work in fertility treatments. He shot to fame in 1994 after giving fertility treatment to a 63-year-old Italian woman, which made her become the oldest woman to give birth at the time.
He also helped Patricia Rashbrook become the UK’s oldest new mother aged 62 in 2006.
Prosecutors have suspended Dr Antinori’s license to practice for one year as the investigation into charges of aggravated robbery and causing personal injury continues.
At least a dozen women are being questioned about the circumstances surrounding their egg donations.
Last year, Italy lifted a 2004 ban on the use of donated eggs and sperm, legalising the fertility treatment procedure for heterosexual married couples. Dr Antinori was clearly benefiting from the newly liberalised reproductive laws – his waiting rooms were reportedly packed – until the country’s military police sealed the clinic Friday, taking away six embryos and patient files.
In other EU countries such as Spain, Belgium and the UK, egg donors can be reimbursed for the economic and physical costs of the procedure, but in Italy donors may not be compensated.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Dr Antinori was paying donors cash gifts on the side. In an interview with
La Repubblica newspaper, one donor said Dr Antinori promised €1,000 per egg and €500 for every friend brought in.
“It was an exchange. I needed money, he needed eggs,” said the unnamed 22-year-old collaborating with investigators. “But when you realise that in the waiting room there are so many young couples who can’t have babies, you are happy to do it.”
The robust demand for eggs combined with the ban on donor compensation in Italy has led to the import of eggs from abroad. Italian investigators who questioned Dr Antinori’s clinic staff were reportedly told “the professor brought them with him in a suitcase,” raising concerns that health codes may not have been followed, a charge that Dr Antinori denies.