Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'It's Every Clinic's Nightmare': Recent Malfunctions At Fertility Centers Shake Industry, Consumers
The New York Times: What Fertility Patients Should Know About Egg Freezing
The failure of systems used to store frozen eggs and embryos at two fertility clinics has rattled people who count on such clinics to help them realize their hopes of having children. But the breakdowns at clinics in Cleveland and San Francisco, each apparently involving the temperature or level of liquid nitrogen in one storage tank, have damaged at least some eggs and embryos belonging to potentially hundreds of people. (Belluck, 3/13)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Organizations Investigate University Hospitals' Fertility Clinic After Freezer Malfunction
University Hospitals' fertility clinic is under investigation by two accreditation organizations and the Ohio Department of Health after a storage tank malfunction potentially damaged thousands of embryos and eggs. These groups are looking for answers as to what happened at UH's Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood. The eggs and embryos, according to officials, could be unviable for in vitro fertilization procedures. (Christ and Washington, 3/13)
San Jose Mercury News: Lawsuit Filed Over Lost Eggs At San Francisco Fertility Clinic
In this first suit to be filed after a rare malfunction that remains under investigation, the woman, who remains anonymous for privacy, is seeking compensation for negligence and breach of contract from the Prelude Fertility, where she received treatment in 2016, and Pacific Fertility Center, which stored her eggs. The law firm, Sauder & Schelkopf of Berwyn, PA, is asking the court to certify the case as a class action, saying that at least 400 individuals may have been harmed by the incident. (Krieger, 3/13)
CNN: Devastated Parents In Two Cities Grieve Their Lost Embryos
When Kate and Jeremy Plants were making plans for their 2014 marriage, they had no idea the future they would face. Just months after they tied the knot, Kate was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a deadly form that the American Cancer Society says takes more lives than any other female reproductive cancer. Because treatment could affect Kate's fertility, doctors encouraged the newlyweds to consider banking Kate's embryos so they could have children someday. (LaMotte, 3/13)
