One day before Mother’s Day 2021, a woman in Washington state received a call from the Colorado fertility clinic that had possession of seven embryos she and her husband had produced through in vitro fertilization, court records state.
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In that call, court records state, the doctor reassured Seldin-Howell that the “catastrophe” was not the couple’s fault. The physician promised Seldin-Howell he would get to the bottom of the “disaster” caused by the fertility clinic, court records state.
Now, Seldin-Howell and her husband, Kolton Howell, are suing CNY Fertility Colorado and CNY Fertility — its parent company, which also operates clinics in New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia and Canada — alleging they engaged in reckless and negligent acts that destroyed the couple’s embryos and their dreams of having two or three children, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.
“Within a span of 48 hours, we went from being overjoyed that our dream of starting a family was finally coming true, to having that dream ripped away from us,” Howell said during a news conference. “Even after almost a year, I’m still struggling to process what happened.”
CNY Fertility and CNY Fertility Colorado did not immediately respond to messages from The Washington Post late Wednesday. The law firm representing the clinics also did not answer a message from The Post.
In May 2021, the couple walked into the Colorado Springs clinic seeking fertility treatment, court records state. Their doctor recommended in vitro fertilization, and on May 5, he performed an egg-retrieval procedure on Seldin-Howell. The following day, a nurse called with some good news: They had cultivated seven embryos that could later be implanted once genetic tests were performed, court records state.
“They believed their children were among those embryos and eagerly awaited the results of the pre-implantation genetic testing so they could begin planning the transfer,” the lawsuit states.
Less than a week after breaking the news that the embryos had not been stored properly, the doctor called back Seldin-Howell to report the results of his investigation, court records state. He explained that the clinic’s in-house laboratory professionals had failed to place oil on a petri dish containing the embryos, the lawsuit states. That oil would have preserved the embryos and facilitated their growth before the implantation phase. But when that step was skipped, the embryos dried out and died, the doctor allegedly explained. The clinic did not notice the mistake for three days, according to the lawsuit.
During that call, the doctor told Seldin-Howell that CNY Fertility was at fault for skipping that crucial step, court records state. He also assured Seldin-Howell that, in future cases, the clinic would “double-check” embryos to ensure proper conditions were met, according to the couple’s lawsuit.
A year later, Seldin-Howell and her husband are still struggling to cope with the traumatic experience.
“We see all the news headlines about fertility clinic disasters, but never in a million years did we think we would be affected,” Seldin-Howell said during the news conference. “CNY Fertility robbed us of our future.”
The couple is open to going through the in vitro fertilization process again, though they have reservations, Seldin-Howell said.
“I can’t say we aren’t afraid of something similar happening,” she said. “We’re traumatized by this experience.”
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