Ohio

Family Files Lawsuit Over Lost Embryos at Ohio Hospital

The hospital issued an apology after an unexplained malfunction earlier this month caused temperatures inside the storage tank to rise

An Ohio hospital where as many as 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos were damaged by a storage tank malfunction is being sued by a couple who lost two embryos.

The lawsuit was filed Sunday on behalf of Amber and Elliott Ash. Lawyers are seeking class action status, which would require approval from a judge.

The Ashes say they stored two embryos at a University Hospitals fertility clinic in suburban Cleveland after Elliott's cancer diagnosis in 2003. They say they were told over the weekend that their embryos are no longer viable.

"It's heartbreaking, just heartbreaking," Amber Ash told WEWS-TV. "The medical community calls it tissue. I like to think of it as my children."

The couple has a 2-year-old son conceived through in-vitro fertilization, and hoped to bring him a genetic sibling.

The hospital issued an apology after an unexplained malfunction earlier this month caused temperatures inside the storage tank to rise.

"I find it very hard to believe that in this day and age there are not better safeguards and practices that could be put in place," Amber Ash said.

An attorney for the Ashes, Mark DiCello, said patients have "too many unanswered questions."

"With this lawsuit, we will get answers and stop this from happening again," he said in a news release.

Hospital officials say they are determined to help the patients who lost eggs and embryos, and the lawsuit will not affect an ongoing independent review into the malfunction.

The law firm that filed the suit, DiCello Levitt & Casey, said it is investigating similar suits against other clinics, including a San Francisco facility that also suffered a storage tank malfunction this month.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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