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A couple is suing a California fertility clinic after an employee allegedly threw away their embryos, dashing their best chances of starting a family together.
Marissa Calhoun and Stephen Castaneda are taking legal action against Los Angeles-area Reproductive Partners Medical Group (RPMG) and Dr Andy Huang.
Calhoun said she underwent three egg retrieval procedures between 2021 and 2022, ultimately leaving the couple with 16 viable embryos, according to KTLA.
But according to Adam Wolf, the couple’s attorney, the clinic admitted that an employee had not properly labeled the embryos before putting them in an incubator. The employee later took them out of storage and threw them away.
“RPMG literally treated Marissa’s embryos like trash,” Wolf told the outlet.
Calhoun said she was devastated that the embryos had been destroyed, during a news conference on Monday. The couple is suing the fertility clinic for negligence in Los Angeles County Superior Court, and are seeking unspecified damages.
Wolf said his clients were denied documentation of what happened to the embryos and that no legal settlement could compensate them for what they have been through.
In an emailed statement, Reproductive Partners Medical Group said: “We are aware of the recently filed lawsuit describing a regrettable, unintentional, and isolated incident involving one patient. We have proactively communicated with this patient since the day it occurred.
“We have been and continue to be committed to open, direct communication and support. We can confidently assure every RPMG patient that their eggs and embryos were not in any way impacted during this isolated incident.” The medical group also represents Dr Huang.
Castaneda said his partner told him the news that the embryos had been destroyed in a panicked phone call.
“I never heard that much pain in her voice before,” he said. “It was the pain that I could only associate with the death of a loved one. I hate the helplessness of the situation.”
Calhoun was encouraged to undergo the treatment because of an existing health condition. “For nearly two decades my doctors told me that my chances of conceiving a child naturally were extremely low, that IVF was my best option for becoming a mother,” she said.
Castaneda added: “Marissa and I are going through the grieving process. We are trying to come to grips with the fact that we may never have the family that we so badly wanted to have.”
