malfunction in cyropreservation tank

[lavenderforluck]

Hello all,
my husband and I went thru ivf in May of 1998 less than 2 weeks after transfer recieved a call there was a malfunction in cryopreservation and our 1 embryo was highly not viable. There was no way too check it,s viability unless they thawed it, but I couldn't because I hoping to be pregnant, they said the embryo was to be destroyed. I was heart broken, Anyway the ivf was succesful and we ended up with twins. About three years later we decided to do ivf again, this time at another clinic because it was cheaper and I could get in sooner. Again we were succesful, in 2002 had another set of twins. Here is where it gets strange. I received a bill from the first place (from 1998) for freezing of embryos. I thought there must be some horrible mistake. I immediately called billing and he said there is a number for you to call right away, I called the number and she says my embyo is still there and she would send the card for it too be detroyed. I said "NO WAY, I want to know exactly what happened" She later called back and said someone accidently pushed the wrong switch and the temperature read 39 degrees celsius (human body temp is 37) She again my embryo had to be thawed at that temp and they can't be refroze and be viable, plus the fact of the high temp. I have been reading and found it can be refroze. I do NOT believe in destroying life that was created, so I am thinking of asking them to do a free frozen transfer and if they cant mailing it to me so it can have a proper burial. I know it is HIGHLY unlikely it would work but I am thinking what if there is a posssibilty it is alive, on the other hand if not my embryo would rest in peace.
PLEASE give me your thoughts very soomn.
Melissa

[Ghost]

You are correct. Embryos can be refrozen. Successful pregnancies have been published (in 2005 I think it was) from embryos thawed twice, and besides that, I've seen it where I work.

But if an embryo thaws in the device, not in proper media (or a uterus), then I suspect it might not survive very long, if at all.

I'm a little confused. The clinic said your embryo was not viable, they said it was gone, then years later they say it's still there and they bill you for storing it? Pretty strange.

Equipment can malfunction. Can't blame the clinic for that. But this confusion is pretty odd. Sorry to hear about it.

[lavenderforluck]

When the woman called me to say there had been a malfunction, that the embryo was most likely not viable. She said that it could be destroyed if I choose to. I said yes I guess thats what has to be done. Years later (just a few days ago) I got a bill. It has been dropped because of the horrible mistake. I then asked them what exactly the malfunction was. She said someone accidently pushed the switch the wrong way (human error) and when they went in the storage place the temp read 39 degrees celsius. I f there is even a slight chance that the embryo is viable I don't want to be the one to kill it therefore I am wondering if they maybe could tell me the morniing of an implantation if it is viable or if not then maybe they could mail it to me and give my embryo a proper burial.