A Southern California couple has sued a fertility clinic for fraudulent cover-up, claiming it mistakenly implanted an embryo carrying a rare stomach cancer gene, then falsified patient records to cover up the mistake.
Jason and Melissa Diaz they claim their young son is now facing the possibility of stomach cancer or possible stomach surgery to prevent the disease. They filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday against Huntington Reproductive Center Medical Group, also called HRC Fertility. The couple’s doctor and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) coordinator also appear as defendants in the document.
Melissa Díaz carries the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which makes her prone to breast and ovarian cancer. Her husband, Jason, has a rare mutation that predisposed him to stomach cancer, which he developed when he was 32. Jason Diaz then underwent stomach removal surgery and chemotherapy, according to the lawsuit. When the couple decided to start a family, they sought in vitro fertilization (IVF) and genetic testing for their embryos to ensure their mutations were not passed on to their future children.
The couple’s first embryo transfer in August 2020 was free of the two genetic mutations, but that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, according to the lawsuit. Understanding that one of their male embryos carried only the BRCA1 gene, which is linked to lower risk for men than women, the couple opted to go ahead with a second embryo transfer that resulted in a successful pregnancy and the birth of a child who is now one year old, the lawsuit says.
Last summer, when the couple was planning to expand their family again, Melissa Diaz says she reached out to HRC Fertility and requested a copy of her embryo report. She then recounts that she was surprised to see handwritten notes indicating that an embryo carrying the stomach cancer mutation was transferred and resulted in her child.
The lawsuit claims that someone from the clinic called her and “admitted that HRC had made a serious mistake”, inviting the couple to a meeting in the office.
The document also says that Melissa then requested her complete medical records from the office.
“Recognizing its mistake, HRC Fertility tried to hide the truth. He produced Melissa an altered copy of her records that omitted the crucial information of which embryo she transferred.” says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit includes two versions of the embryo records and alleges that “HRC tried to hide the truth.”
The couple blames the clinic for fraudulent cover-up and violation of California’s unfair competition law, and are separately adjudicating their claim over the wrong embryo transfer.
“We trust them to help us have a healthy baby”said Melissa Diaz at a press conference.
Diaz’s son “will develop stomach cancer, will require surgery to remove the entire stomach, or both”says the court file.
“Because of your mistake, our greatest fear has come true.” Jason Diaz said at the press conference. “I personally know the pain of this cancer. And I know this by watching other family members suffer and eventually die from it. I would not want anyone on Earth to experience this kind of pain and now I will be forced to watch my own son, my own flesh and blood, go through this.”
“We deeply empathize with the situation of this family,” HRC said in a statement. “However, the patients associated with the case sought genetic testing and genetic counseling outside of HRC Fertility, and with an outside party; they wished to have a male embryo transferred to them, which we performed in accordance with the explicit wishes of the family and in accordance with the highest standard of care.”
“We also stand behind the professionalism and expertise of our medical staff and pride ourselves on meeting the highest standards of patient care, patient records, results and testing at all of our locations,” read in the statement.
