News story, wrong embryos

[CT_Michele]

Have you guys seen this story? I guess it was on the today show yesterday. When I had my FET this morning, RE was chit chatting about it a little, apparantly a woman in ohio got pregnant from ivf and when the clinic called with her beta results they also told her they implanted the wrong embryos!

Absolutely crazy, I feel so bad for all parties involved. I guess she is going to deliver in the next month and give the baby to the biological parents.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32950836/ns ... ay_health/

[Ghost]

Have you guys seen this story? I guess it was on the today show yesterday. When I had my FET this morning, RE was chit chatting about it a little, apparantly a woman in ohio got pregnant from ivf and when the clinic called with her beta results they also told her they implanted the wrong embryos!

Absolutely crazy, I feel so bad for all parties involved. I guess she is going to deliver in the next month and give the baby to the biological parents.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32950836/ns ... ay_health/

Sorry. I lost my glasses and could not read the label on the dish.

[CT_Michele]

Craziness...right? It came up today b/c when I went for my FET, I found it odd that they had me spell my first and last name, say my date of birth and say my social security number atleast 3 different times to different people. And they know me very well there, so it was all just procedural. They even put a bracelet on, which I don't remember in the past. Not that I think my clinic would ever make that kind of mistake, especially considering I was the only transfer today, but they seemed to be taking extra caution.

That clinic is going to get sued like crazy...it really is an unforgivable mistake. I swear, it's like a lifetime movie, but it really happened for crying out loud! It makes me so mad to think about how careless someone had to be to make that mistake.

[Ghost]

Craziness...right? It came up today b/c when I went for my FET, I found it odd that they had me spell my first and last name, say my date of birth and say my social security number atleast 3 different times to different people. And they know me very well there, so it was all just procedural. They even put a bracelet on, which I don't remember in the past. Not that I think my clinic would ever make that kind of mistake, especially considering I was the only transfer today, but they seemed to be taking extra caution.

That clinic is going to get sued like crazy...it really is an unforgivable mistake. I swear, it's like a lifetime movie, but it really happened for crying out loud! It makes me so mad to think about how careless someone had to be to make that mistake.

I don't know how they screwed this up. But with more than a quarter million IVF cycles done each year worldwide, most any mistake is bound to happen eventually.

Yes, the clinic will be sued by one or both harmed parties. They will probably also lose business. Don't be surprised if the FDA gets involved, since human tissue was taken from one person and placed into another almost certainly without proper disease screening (needed for egg donor cycles) and without their consent.

We don't know the clinic, do we?

[CT_Michele]

No, no word on what clinic yet, just in ohio somewhere. This story is just breaking, I think there was some sort of agreement for this mom not to come out publicly until 35 weeks, which I am also curious to know why 35 weeks. Did they want to make sure that the baby would make it before they spread the news? I am sure they will lose business, maybe even close. I wouldn't go there after something like this. And I agree, something like this is bound to happen eventually, too bad it has to be that way.

I still can not imagine what this is like for the families involved and my thoughts are with them. I am sure more details will come out, especially as she nears her delivery. I saw it on my local news tonight and I am not really close to ohio.

[Warren Dew]

I expect they already have a legal agreement hammered out. One of the stories mentioned that the woman, who is on the older side now for IVF, will next be trying surrogacy with their frozen embryos. I bet the clinic is paying for that. I did think it was interesting that their embryos may not have been thawed.

The other couple does still get a kid, if not through their own pregnancy. They might regard that as a free surrogate. Honestly, when we were trying for #1, we would definitely not have turned down a kid from our embryo that had gotten into the wrong uterus.

I give the clinic points for telling her as soon as they knew.

Also, this seems to be far from the first case where either the wrong embryo or the wrong sperm was used:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/healt ... -24622043/

[tigersuz22]

Hi everyone,
This may have been my clinic in Ohio, who is also largely based in Michigan. The couple who were implanted with the wrong embryo are very well-known in our community and this has been a field day for our local news organizations.
If it truly is my clinic (which I am very much assuming it is, based on the locations of the two families involved), I have to say that I am completely shocked based on the professionalism and adherence to the highest of standards that they practice. They're one of the best in the country (at least, the doctor that we used is based on his success rate).
Such a terrible thing... when we were going through our cycle last year (just had our daughter in June, 2 months early!), at every appointment, retrieval, and transfer we saw the SAME couple and my husband and I joked that our baby could be theirs since we seemed to be doing everything at the exact same time. No idea that it could actually happen! How wonderful that they decided to keep the child, though - but what an emotional and difficult experience to go through.

-Suzanne

[TammyS]

I was also concerned that this could have been my clinic, but I heard today, that it is a clinic just across the border in Michigan. These accidents do happen, this isnt the first. My husband and I stupidly watched a documentary type movie about embryos getting mixed up, just 2 weeks before my transfer. It was definitely on our minds till Zach came out the mini-me of my husband and I. It's unfortunate, but with as many transfers being done today, not surprising. Hopefully, this will bring about stricter guidelines on keeping the embryos/sperm/eggs from getting mixed up. Kudos to the clinic for coming forward right away and being honest (they could've covered it up). Major kudos to the families involved. Makes you wonder how many mistakes have been covered up.

[CT_Michele]

Tammy- I always wondered myself, not that I don't trust my clinic, because I do, but I remember when Ella was born, the first thing I heard in the delivery room was, "Sorry mom, she looks like dad," and everyone laughed. And then as people came to visit, they would joke about good thing she looks like dad because we know she is yours, she came out of you! (I know, crummy thing to even joke about). But everytime someone said that, I would think, people are saying she is mine b/c she came out of me, but they don't know, nobody knows what happens in those labs, you just trust them to do their job correctly. Of course, as time went on, she turned into a mini me and everyone says she looks just like me. But I always wonder myself how many "mistakes" are made and people don't even know.

And yes, Kudos to everyone involved, and although the clinic did take responsibility right away, I of course wish it had never happened in the first place.

[Warren Dew]

I'd note that there are inexpensive genetic tests now - in the range of a hundred dollars - so if clinics tried to cover up these days, they'd have a significant chance of getting caught.

[Ghost]

And yes, Kudos to everyone involved, and although the clinic did take responsibility right away, I of course wish it had never happened in the first place.

I would not make that assumption.

The clinic waited until the pregnancy test result to tell the couple. This makes me wonder if they would have kept it secret if pregnancy had not occurred.

[CT_Michele]

Ghost- I do not think they would have told the couple had they not gotten pregnant, but maybe they would have had to, because they would have had to tell the couple who essentially "lost" eggs because they were transferred into someone else. Unless of course they just told that couple at thaw that their embies didn;t make it. Either way, the whole situation sucks.

[TammyS]

And yes, Kudos to everyone involved, and although the clinic did take responsibility right away, I of course wish it had never happened in the first place.

I would not make that assumption.

The clinic waited until the pregnancy test result to tell the couple. This makes me wonder if they would have kept it secret if pregnancy had not occurred.

Oh for sure they would have kept their mouths shut. Scary, isnt it?

[Ghost]

Ghost- I do not think they would have told the couple had they not gotten pregnant, but maybe they would have had to, because they would have had to tell the couple who essentially "lost" eggs because they were transferred into someone else. Unless of course they just told that couple at thaw that their embies didn;t make it. Either way, the whole situation sucks.

I hope this is investigated. I hope they find out why the couple was not informed of the error until the pregnancy test. If my suspicion is correct, we have more than an innocent mistake to deal with.

[Ghost]

And yes, Kudos to everyone involved, and although the clinic did take responsibility right away, I of course wish it had never happened in the first place.

I would not make that assumption.

The clinic waited until the pregnancy test result to tell the couple. This makes me wonder if they would have kept it secret if pregnancy had not occurred.

Oh for sure they would have kept their mouths shut. Scary, isnt it?

Yes, it is.