At San Francisco Fertility Clinic, Eggs and Embryos Were Ruined, $15M Award Was Made

SAN FRANCISCO — Five women who lost eggs or embryos after a cryogenic storage tank at San Francisco Fertility Clinic collapsed were awarded almost $15 million by a jury on Thursday.

The judgment was awarded in a case brought after a tank collapse at the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco in 2018, which resulted in the loss of around 3,500 frozen eggs and embryos.

Three women who lost eggs and a married couple who lost embryos will get the award, which includes more than $14 million in damages for pain, suffering, and mental anguish.

Hundreds of other individuals have sued the clinic and Chart Industries Inc., which constructed the cryogenic tank where the specimens were housed, but their case is the first to go before a jury.

The women and the couple testified about their grief during the trial.

Chloe Poynton, 39, had nine eggs removed from her body.

Poynton stated, “It’s incredibly terrible to be at a baby shower enjoying someone else’s family being established while knowing within you’ll never have it.” “As a result, you begin to back away. You begin to withdraw.”

On the same day as the San Francisco tank disaster, a similar tank incident in a Cleveland suburb damaged almost 4,000 eggs and embryos. They were the country’s largest such losses on record, prompting facilities throughout the country to reassess their processes.

A lawyer for Chart blamed the reproductive facility for the tank collapse during final arguments in the San Francisco trial. Jurors, on the other hand, dismissed the claim that the tank had been abused or inappropriately modified.

The tank breakdown was caused by a manufacturing flaw, and jurors found Chart 90 percent liable and negligent for neglecting to recall the defective item, which they determined was a “substantial factor” in causing injury.

The component in question was a controller that kept track of liquid nitrogen levels.

Pacific Fertility was judged to be 10% accountable for the damages caused.

The three ladies received between $2 million and $3 million apiece, while the couple received $7.2 million.

Chart’s attorney and Pacific Fertility did not respond to messages left for them on Thursday.