An Ohio hospital where approximately 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos may have been damaged by a storage tank malfunction has apologised to patients and said it will do “everything possible to address the situation.”
The unexplained rise in temperatures in a liquid nitrogen tank occurred last week at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center’s suburban fertility clinic.
“We are incredibly sorry this happened,” the hospital said. “We are committed to getting answers and working with patients individually to address their concerns.” One round of in vitro fertilization can cost patients without medical insurance around $12,000. The hospital hasn’t said whether it would compensate about 700 affected patients, who are being notified through letters and telephone calls.
Some of the samples date to the 1980s, said Dr. James Liu, head of the hospital’s gynaecology department. “At this point, we do not know the viability of all the stored eggs and embryos, although we do know some have been impacted,” Patti DePompei of University Hospitals said.