Class action filed against ReproMed after woman, 39, says they destroyed her stored eggs

Gluckstein law firm says a class-action lawsuit has been filed against ReproMed, the Toronto Institute for Reproductive Medicine (TIRM), after a woman’s stored eggs were destroyed.

The firm said they filed the class action on behalf of a 39-year-old woman who recently had 65 eggs stored at ReproMed when the freezer temperatures rose too high, destroying all the eggs, embryos and sperm stored within it.

In a press release sent out Thursday, Gluckstein alleges the fertility company was “negligent in its inspection, monitoring, and maintenance of a storage freezer which failed in late May, destroying her eggs and hopes for a family.”

It also said the lawsuit has been filed on behalf of all of those affected who would have also lost viable embryos, sperm, and eggs in the malfunction.

The lawyers said the woman was informed her 65 eggs were destroyed through an email sent by Dr. Del Valle. They said the email described the vacuum pump in the freezer, supplied by Chart Industries, malfunctioning and added it was defective.

“It is currently not known whether the increase in temperature which destroyed the eggs, sperm, and embryos was caused by design defect, manufacturing problem, human error, or a combination of factors,” the release reads.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It is currently not known whether the increase in temperature which destroyed the eggs, sperm, and embryos was caused by design defect, manufacturing problem, human error, or a combination of factors," the release reads.

The company that manufactured the freezer tanks, Chart Industries, is currently the subject of many lawsuits throughout the United States including at San Francisco’s Pacific Fertility Centre where a storage tank malfunction destroyed or endangered the frozen eggs, sperm and embryos of hundreds of people.