Dr Rachael Knight sues Lynn Burmeister’s husband for defamation
Melbourne’s lucrative IVF industry is again in the spotlight with the husband of “fertility Queen” Lynn Burmeister accused of giving one of her rival IVF specialists a fake one-star review, the details revealed in an explosive defamation case.
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The husband of Melbourne’s “fertility Queen” Lynn Burmeister has been accused of giving one of her rival IVF specialists a fake one-star review in an explosive defamation case.
Fabrizio Ippoliti, a hotelier and one-time owner of Inflation and Subterrain nightclubs, is being sued for defamation by Dr Rachael Knight from Melbourne IVF over the online post.
“I didn’t have a very good experience with Dr Knight or Melbourne IVF,” the anonymous review uploaded on ratemds.com on April 1, 2018 said.
“Seemed it was a money making venture for the clinic.”
The post came with one-star ratings for staff, punctuality, helpfulness and knowledge.
It was published two days before Dr Burmeister, who married Mr Ippoliti in 1995, opened her new Number 1 Fertility clinic in Collins St, Melbourne.
Mr Ippoliti has vehemently denied any involvement or knowledge of the review.
“To be clear — I did not post the review, nor did I permit or authorise anyone else to do so,” Mr Ippoliti said in a sworn affidavit filed with the Supreme Court.
Dr Knight claimed Mr Ippoliti made the post, or allowed someone else to, after investigations uncovered the review was linked to the IP address of his Optus account.
She said she was entitled to “an award of aggravated damages” for the defamatory review, which implied she did not care about her patient’s welfare and that her only motivation in providing IVF services was to make money.
It also painted her as having insufficient knowledge to provide fertility services and that patients seeking IVF services should avoid her, she claimed.
“By reason of the publication of the review, the plaintiff has been held up to hatred, ridicule and contempt and has suffered, and continues to suffer, loss and damage,” court papers allege.
“The defendant published the review for the purpose of damaging the plaintiff’s practice as an infertility specialist for the benefit of the infertility practice of the defendant’s wife.”
Mr Ippoliti claims the IP address was the Wi-Fi at his South Yarra home, digging out old telephone bills, his toll travel history and photographs on social media to prove he was at the family’s Portsea holiday home with his wife and their children that weekend for Easter.
He said “many dozens of people” who had visited their home, including people from the fertility industry, had the password to the Wi-Fi, which can be accessed from the street.
A Supreme Court judge will have to look at the evidence and determine the case.
It is the latest scandal to rock the lucrative IVF industry, and comes after Dr Burmeister made headlines when she launched Supreme Court action against her employer of 17 years, Monash IVF, after quitting to start her own fertility clinic in 2017.
Dr Burmeister claimed she left due to bullying and internal politics, but Monash IVF argued her contract meant she could not go in competition with them for at least 12 months.
In the year Dr Burmeister walked away, the company reported a net profit of $21.5 million — down from $29.3 million the previous year.
She eventually settled with Monash IVF in a legal battle that reportedly cost the fertility physician $2.5 million.
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