Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • October 25, 2024 21 IVF: The Human Cost From page 12 • In 2012, The New York Times reported that IVF clinics in the U.S. use high doses of fertility drugs, stimulating women’s bodies to produce many eggs at once, to boost their success rates, despite the risk of inducing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). “According to the National Institutes of Health , high-dose stimulation leads to OHSS in 10 percent of IVF patients. The ovaries become swollen and … can leak fluid into the chest and abdomen. Symptoms can range from mild to serious; in rare cases, OHSS can be life-threatening.” 20 • A 2008 study found that “women who were treated for ovulation induction experienced a signifi- cantly higher overall risk of cancer. This increased risk was especially evident for cancer of the uterus following treatment with clomiphene citrate. Furthermore, this study’s results suggest increased risks of breast cancer, malignant melanoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma following ovulation induc- tion treatment that were more pronounced among women who waited more than one year to conceive, perhaps representing a dose-response relation.” 2 IV. “Mix-ups” and Scandals Harming Families By producing human embryos outside the womb, IVF clinics expose them to various forms of manip- ulation, including the risk that they will be “mixed up” between families without parents’ knowledge or consent. This has led to scandals, aggrieved parents, and lawsuits. • In December 2023, the New York Post reported that an American couple of Asian descent reached a settlement with a California IVF clinic that in 2019 impregnated the wife with unrelated embryos from two other families. The couple reportedly had been told they were having twin girls, but the babies were male and not of Asian descent. The children ulti- mately were united with their genetic parents, but the Asian couple still did not know the fate of their own embryonic children. In 2022 the Post reported that “mix-ups” and other misconduct had been hap- pening for years and may affect thousands of fami- lies. “The current state of regulation is the Wild West,” said an attorney working in this area. 22 • “IVF mix-ups are a regular occurrence at fertil- ity clinics across the UK, an expert has said. Dr. Sammy Lee, a scientific consultant at the Portland Hospital in London, said the case of a white woman giving birth to black twins which hit the headlines earlier this month is probably not an isolated inci- dent…. He said: ‘Every day, someone somewhere in the UK is inadvertently messing up.… I am aware of the wrong embryos being transferred to the wrong patients at several NHS [National Health Service] units during the past 10 years. I have also confiden- tially been told about a number of cases where the wrong sperm were used to inseminate eggs.’” 23 “The [University of California] Board of Regents has quietly settled a dozen lawsuits stemming from fertility fraud uncovered nearly 15 years ago -- drawing closer to an end a scandal that has dogged UC Irvine and left behind dozens of heartbroken couples…. In all, the University of California has paid out more than $24 million for 137 separate incidents in which eggs or embryos were either unaccounted for or given to other women without consent. Three cases are still pending. The two doc- tors at the center of the malpractice … fled the coun- try and continue to evade criminal prosecution, leaving the university to deal with the civil lawsuits that followed.” 24 • “Within four days of finding out she was preg- nant, Carolyn Savage went from the high of antici- pating the child she had tried so hard to conceive to the unfathomable low of knowing the baby was not hers to keep. Carolyn Savage had had a history of miscarriages, and she and her husband, Sean Savage, turned to in vitro fertilization, hoping to have a fourth child. But on Feb. 16, 2009, the Sylvana, Ohio, couple learned that the frozen embryo of another couple had been mistakenly transferred into Carolyn’s womb…. On Sept. 24, 2009, the Savages returned their newborn son, whom they’d held for 30 minutes, to his biological parents.” 25 Updated: March 2024 1 American Fertility Services, “ Embryo Grading and Success Rates ” (2020), at americanfertility.com/what-is-the-quality- grade-of-embryos/. This IVF center admits: “Embryo grad- ing results are not objective and reliable.” 2 D. Hawkins, “ Jury awards $15 million in landmark case over embryos, eggs destroyed in fertility clinic tank failure ,” The Washington Post , June 11, 2021, at www.washington- post.com/health/2021/06/11/fertility-clinic-egg-embryo-ver- dict/; L. Wamsley, “ Ohio Fertility Clinic says 4,000 eggs and embryos destroyed when freezer failed, ” National Public Radio , March 28, 2018, at www.npr.org/sections/ thetwo-way/2018/03/28/597569116/ohio-fertility-clinic- says-4-000-eggs-and-embryos-destroyed-when-freezer- failed; M. Robins, “ Five years since the University Hospitals fertility clinic failure: Looking back at the events leading up to and following the disaster, ” WKYC News ( NBC Cleveland ), Nov. 15, 2023, at www.wkyc.com/article/ news/health/uh-failure/5-years-since-university-hospitals- fertility-clinic-failure/95-f28648c0-618b-4d1b-baeb- 992a3b55324b. 3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021 Assisted Reproductive Technology Fertility Clinic and National Summary Report (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services 2023), pp. 13, 15, 19, available at www.cdc.gov/art/ reports/2021/pdf/Report-ART-Fertility-Clinic-National- Summary-H.pdf. 4 F. Spinella et al., “ ESHRE PGT Consortium data collection XXI: PGT analyses in 2018 ,” Human Reproduction Open , Volume 2023 Issue 2 (2023), p. 6 (Table II), at www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10121336/pdf/hoad010.pdf. 5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, note 3 supra, p. 18. 6 Id., p. 13. 7 Editorial, “ The alarming rise of complex genetic testing in human embryo selection, ” Nature, Volume 603 (2022), pp. 549-50, at www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00787- z#correction-0. 8 M. von Wolff and T. Haaf, “ In Vitro Fertilization Technology and Child Health, ” Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Volume 117 (2020), pp. 23-30, p. 23, at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7026576/pdf/ Dtsch_Arztebl_Int-117_0023.pdf. 9 C. Sullivan-Pyke et al., “ In Vitro Fertilization and Adverse Obstetric and Perinatal Outcomes, ” Seminars in Perinatology, Volume 41, Issue 6 (October 2017), pp. 345- 53, p. 345, at www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/ S0146000517300733?via%3Dihub. 10 E. Kamphuis et al., “ Are we overusing IVF? ”, British Medical Journal 348 (2014): g252, at www.bmj.com/con- tent/348/bmj.g252.full. 11 C. Williams et al., “ Cancer Rrisk among children born after assisted conception ,” New England Journal of Medicine 369 (2013), pp. 1819-27, at www.nejm.org/doi/ full/10.1056/NEJMoa1301675. 12 U. Scherrer et al., “ Systemic and pulmonary vascular dysfunction in children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies, ” Circulation 125 (2012), pp. 1890-96, p. 1890, at www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATION AHA.111.071183?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_ id=ori: rid:crossref.org& rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed. 13 T. Blackwell, “ I n-vitro fertilization linked to rare genetic disorders, ” National Post (Canada), September 25, 2011, at nationalpost.com/news/in-vitro-fertilization-linked-to-ra- re-genetic-disorders. 14 G. Kolata, “ Picture emerging on genetic risks of IVF, ” The New York Times , Feb. 16, 2009, at www.nytimes.com/ 2009/02/17/health/17ivf.html. 15 M. Bonduelle et al., “ A multi-centre cohort study of the physical health of 5-year-old children conceived after intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in vitro fertilization and natural conception, ” Human Reproduction 20 (2005), pp. 413-9, pp.416, 417, at academic.oup.com/humrep/arti- cle/20/2/413/603229. 16 M. Hansen, “ Assisted reproductive technologies and the risk of birth defects -- a systematic review, ” Human Reproduction 20 (2005), pp. 328-38, p. 328, at academic. oup.com/humrep/article/20/2/328/603230 . 17 P. Wu et al., “ In-hospital complications in pregnancies conceived by assisted reproductive technology, ” Journal of the American Heart Association 2022;11:e02.58, at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9075081/pdf/ JAH3-11-e022658.pdf. 18 C. Sullivan-Pyke et al., note 9 supra, p. 347. 19 L. Stewart et al., “ In vitro fertilization is associated with an increased risk of borderline ovarian tumours ,” Gynecologic Oncology 129 (2013), pp. 372-376, abstract at www.gynecologiconcology-online.net/article/S0090- 8258(13)00064-4/abstract. 20 J. Mroz, “ High doses of hormones faulted in fertility care, ” July 16, 2012, at www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/health/ research/high-doses-of-hormones-add-to-ivf-complications. html. 21 R. Calderon-Margalit et al., “ Cancer risk after exposure to treatments for ovulation induction, ” American Journal of Epidemiology 169 (2008), pp. 365-75, p. 370, at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720715/pdf/ kwn318.pdf. 22 K. Boniello, “ NYC couple in heartbreaking ‘twin’ embryo mix-up settles lawsuit against Calif. Clinic, ” New York Post , Dec. 30, 2023, at nypost.com/2023/12/30/metro/nyc-couple- in-twin-embryo-mix-up-settles-suit-against-california-clin- ic/; A. Klein, “ More baby mix ups will happen if IVF clinics don’t clean up their act, ” New York Post , Feb. 13, 2022, at nypost.com/2022/02/12/ivf-clinics-need-to-clean-up-their- act-to-end-baby-mix-ups/. 23 “IVF mix-ups ‘occur regularly’,” BBC News: Health , July 24, 2002, at news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2148423.stm. 24 K. Yoshino, “ UCI settles dozens of fertility suits, ” The Los Angeles Times , September 11, 2009, at www.latimes.com/ archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-11-me-uci-fertility11-story.html. 25 S. James, “ Embryo mix-up: Grieving a baby who didn’t die, ” ABC News , Feb. 24, 2011, at abcnews.go.com/Health/ sean-carolyn-savage- describe-embryo-mix-giving-baby/story?id=12993374 .