The trial relating to a complaint filed against the fertility clinic in Bregenz, Austria by a 44-year-old Swiss woman began on Monday. She has accused the clinic of implanting her with embryos “that were not hers”.
The woman began her course of ART treatment in 2015, when six of her eggs were fertilized with her husband’s sperm. The first two embryos were unsuccessfully implanted in 2016. At the second attempt, one of the two embryos implanted, but the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. The woman then turned to the clinic to receive the last two embryos, but the clinic refused and “to her great surprise, the doctor told her there were none left”. Trying to understand, she then went to see a biologist, who said “there were several indications that her insemination had not involved either [her] eggs or [her] husband’s sperm”. “I was implanted with a stranger’s embryos,” the woman concluded.
With this trial, she is hoping above all to find her two missing embryos. “I’m really afraid that another woman will soon be raising my child,” she explained. She is also claiming €10,000 in compensation “for the psychological pain and suffering”. The clinic denies any fault and is confident in the safety of its protocols.
To find out more:
The cause of a young mother’s unease: her baby born via ART does not look like her
Great quality female embryo offered for male embryo: when embryos are traded in classified ads
20 minutes (13/03/2019) – «J’ai reçu les ovules d’une autre femme»
20 minuten (12/03/2019) – «Mir wurden die Eizellen einer Fremden eingesetzt»