Monash IVF to call on embryologists to defend ‘destroyed eggs’ class action

A major IVF clinic has revealed how it could defend a class action claiming it needlessly destroyed embryos, ending women’s chances of having babies.

Monash IVF will likely call on expert embryologists to defend claims it incorrectly destroyed viable embryos, ending some women’s hopes of having children, a court has been told.

The IVF clinic’s lawyer Pat Zappio QC told the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday that he anticipated there would be four types of expert evidence called in the trial.

“The first would be as to the viability of the embryos that were said to have been not transferred – it appears on the plaintiff’s case that it rests on those embryos being viable,” he said, indicating that could be disputed.

The suit alleges that Monash IVF used a faulty test on patients’ embryos – eggs fertilised with sperm – and incorrectly told them they would not result in babies, with some embryos then destroyed.

This caused pain and suffering for women and couples, who lost the chance to become pregnant or needlessly turned to donor eggs rather than having children that shared their genetics, the suit claims.

Monash IVF will also likely call on experts to give evidence on the quality of the tests used, whether the embryos were eligible for an alternative and allegedly more accurate biopsy test, and on whether the clients affected suffered psychiatric injury.

Class action lawyer Min Guo said about 200 group members were participating in the class action against the IVF clinic.

The group members are former clients of Monash IVF and their partners, who were used in a clinical trial of a new testing method that has since been suspended.

Monash IVF will defend claims it incorrectly destroyed viable embryos, ending some women’s hopes of having children/

Mr Guo said investigations revealed 13,000 tests – which the class actions alleges were faulty – had been conducted by Monash IVF.

Justice John Dixon said it could be two Christmases before a trial date was available for the case due to the Covid-19 backlog.

The parties will attempt mediation in the meantime.

IVF involves an egg being fertilised by sperm in a lab instead of inside the female body, an option for couples with fertility issues.

The test used on the patients was a clinical trial of a method screening for chromosome abnormalities in the fertilised eggs.

The class action alleges women were not given enough information to consent to the test, and traditional biopsy testing should have been done as well as the new method before the embryos were deemed unviable.

It alleges patients were lied to when they were told the test was 95 per cent accurate.

The test program, called niPGT-A, has since been suspended by Monash IVF and was not peer reviewed, the class action says.

It was “the only fertility treatment program in the world using niPGT-A testing as a basis to discard embryos”, a writ filed by the class action lawyers claims.

“The clinical trial was not a proper basis for treatment of patients.”