Families suing Trumbull firm over lost embryos fear Alabama IVF ruling
A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling saying embryos created through in vitro fertilization should be considered children has caused “stress and anxiety and fears” for families suing Connecticut-based CooperSurgical, an attorney representing some of those families said.
California-based attorney Tracy Cowan made the claim Wednesday in a news conference announcing a growing field of families who are suing the manufacturer of a solution used in IVF treatments that allegedly led to the destruction of embryos.
Cowan, during the virtual news conference, announced three new filings from families in Iowa, Texas and China, which she said is the first known international family to file suit. They join more than 100 families suing CooperSurgical through Cowan’s firm, the Clarkson Law Firm, and several other law firms.
Representatives from CooperSurgical could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
Cowan said the stakes for many of the families are even higher now after the Alabama ruling.
“The fear that a lot of my clients have is that there may be changes in the law, particularly in states like Texas, where you
have similar views as to those that prompted the Alabama law,” Cowan said.
The Alabama high court decision has already had an effect on IVF treatment in Connecticut. Multiple fertility clinics in the state paused treatments in the wake of the decision as the legal ramifications were explored.
IVF treatment involves “retrieving a woman’s eggs and a man’s sperm sample and combining the two in a laboratory dish. A fertilized embryo — or
sometimes more than one embryo — is then transferred to the woman’s uterus,” according to Yale Medicine. IVF is the “most successful fertility treatment” available, Yale states on its website.
Several embryos can often be used in attempts to achieve a viable pregnancy, but many can be lost as well. That’s created a complication in the process, if those embryos are to be treated as children, as the court’s ruling says couples who lost frozen embryos
stored at an Alabama facility can sue under the state’s wrongful death law.
Cowan added that because the Alabama ruling only applies to that state, wrongful death claims have not been introduced to the CooperSurgical lawsuits.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, CooperSurgical on Dec. 5 issued a recall notice regarding several lots of a solution used to nurture and develop healthy embryos. The notice said the recalled solutions lacked magnesium, which is needed for embryonic development. The recall impacted lots used in November and December.
“We’re still getting calls at our offices every day saying that people just found out that they were impacted,” Cowan said.
According to a federal lawsuit filed in California and obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media Group through the Clarkson Law firm, a couple from Beijing, China traveled to the U.S. for fertility treatments. The couple, in their 40s, believed they wouldn’t be able to reproduce until research into U.S. fertility practices gave them hope. They found a “perfect” donor, the suit said, and retrieved 30 eggs that resulted in 20 embryos. All 20, however, were lost due to the CooperSurgical solution, the suit said. The suit claimed the couple “spent $51,000 for their donor alone, plus tens of thousands more dollars on egg and sperm retrieval procedures, appointments and travel expenses.”
“Unfortunately, they lost them because of this deficient media,” Cowan said. “And so now they are left unsure what to do next, as their donor is no longer participating in cycles.”
In a statement released earlier this month, CooperSurgical said, “quality and compliance are fundamental parts of the value we provide to our customers and are our core focus.”
“In accordance with the requirements of our quality management system, a media recall was initiated to proactively address any possible issue with our products while we continue to investigate,” the statement said.