Microscope on IVF giant over ‘inexcusable’ embryo error
Callum Godde and Rachael Ward |
A second embryo blunder from a major private fertility clinic has raised fresh fears about system flaws.
Staff at a Monash IVF laboratory in Melbourne on Thursday transferred the wrong embryo to a woman, giving her one of her own rather than one from her partner, as they had requested.
The pair is believed to be in a same-sex relationship.
The company, which is based in Melbourne but has clinics around Australia, apologised to the couple and launched an internal investigation.
But the Victorian Health Regulator has swooped in with its own probe of Monash IVF and how the error occurred at its Clayton site.
State Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the mistake was “completely unacceptable” and the company must provide answers.
“This will be quite devastating for the couple at the heart of this,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
“We all know that the IVF journey can be a very long, torturous one. It can be very expensive as well.”
In a notice to the stock market, Monash IVF said it would set up additional verification processes and patient confirmation safeguards.
It has informed the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee certifying body and insurers, declaring it expects the mix-up to fall within its insurance coverage.
The company’s profit guidance remains unchanged but the news sent its share price tumbling by more than 26 per cent to below 55 cents as of 3pm AEST.
Monash IVF revealed in April a woman at a Brisbane facility had another patient’s embryo incorrectly transferred to her because of “human error”.
The mistake was picked up in February after the birth parents asked for their remaining embryos to be transferred elsewhere and an extra embryo was found in storage.
Monash IVF apologised, expressed confidence it was an isolated incident and hired leading barrister Fiona McLeod to lead an independent review, which has now been expanded.
Alex Polyakov, a fertility specialist at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital, said the latest stuff-up was also likely because of human error.
He said the mistake in Melbourne was easier to make than the one in Brisbane but equally serious.
“You have the couple’s names on every embryo,” the Genea Fertility Melbourne medical director told AAP.
“It’s not just the patient or the egg provider, it’s also their partner.
“I could see how this would happen.”
About one in 18 babies is born via IVF in Australia.
Associate Professor Polyakov said the two transfer errors were the first he was aware of in Australia since the IVF industry began operating 40 years ago, although there have been high-profile cases in the US and Israel.
He called for more vigilance and extra layers of protection but conceded no system could be made foolproof from a “black swan event”.
Shine Lawyers medical law Victorian practice lead Daniel Opare said alarm bells should be ringing across the industry.
Known errors disclosed by Monash IVF raise questions about potential issues at other clinics that do not have the same reporting obligations, the medical negligence expert argued.
He said Monash IVF could be exposed to lawsuits for failing in its duty of care to the patient, on top of breach of contract if the couple signed an agreement setting out which embryo was due to be transferred.
The two separate errors disclosed by Monash IVF were “up there in terms of severity” compared to other previously known industry errors, he said, including embryos being damaged after trays were dropped in laboratories.
“It’s inexcusable,” Mr Opare told AAP.
Pink Elephants support group founder Samantha Payne was concerned about the impact on other couples undergoing IVF and called for a wider discussion about how clinics are run.
“You’d be terrified if you were going through a round of IVF now,” she said.
AAP
