It’s impossible to comprehend the emotional devastation our clients are feeling as a result of Pacific Fertility Center’s negligence.
SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB) March 24, 2018
San Francisco-based law firm Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger filed a complaint in the San Francisco Superior Court against Pacific Fertility Center and its partners and owners, Prelude Fertility, Inc. and San Francisco Fertility Centers, A Medical Corporation, on behalf of two men whose embryos may have been compromised following a storage tank failure. The action alleges that Pacific Fertility Center not only failed to properly monitor its storage equipment and maintain the safety of clients’ embryos, but also was negligent in promptly informing them of the full extent of the damage incurred due to equipment failure.
The complaint alleges that Pacific Fertility Center advertised that their clients’ reproductive tissue would be safely stored indefinitely at a temperature of -196°C in vacuum-lined tanks that are computer-controlled and equipped with a dedicated alarm system, monitored daily to maintain an ideal storage environment.
On March 11, Pacific Fertility Center notified clients who had genetic material stored in Tank #4 that their “equipment lost liquid nitrogen for a brief period of time” and that their genetic material “may have been impacted.” Upon further investigation, the failure is alleged to have occurred on March 4 – making it a full week before clients were officially notified of the failure. As a result, hundreds of clients and thousands of eggs and embryos may have been affected, with no knowledge of the full extent of damage.
As the legal action progresses, Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger will investigate the cause of the storage tank failure to determine both the efficacy of the design of the storage tank and the adequacy of the policies and protocols that failed to prevent the loss to hundreds of women and men.
“Each and every client has a special and unique story and loss. Human eggs and embryos are not fungible. Our clients deserve to be compensated not for the minimal cost of another harvest cycle, but also for the lost genetic material that would have become their children and the emotional and physical toll associated with their devastating loss,” says partner Doris Cheng.
The lawsuit seeks damages for the plaintiffs’ pain and suffering associated with the loss of their reproductive tissue, the economic value of their unique biological property, and the future cost of procuring new eggs and embryos.
Clients who have been affected by the storage tank failure at Pacific Fertility Center may contact Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger to discuss their legal options.
About the Complaint:
Superior Court of California County of San Francisco
Case Number: CGC-18-565122
Date of Filing: March 20, 2018
View the Full Complaint Here
Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger
(415) 889-2919