U.S. Fertility Industry Crisis

REPORT, NEW LAWSUIT TO EXPOSE “NATIONAL TRAGEDY” OF NONEXISTENT OVERSIGHT OF U.S. FERTILITY CLINICS Major New Fertility Center Lawsuit Case to be Announced at News Event; Report to Detail Unregulated “Wild West” Days of U.S. IVF/Fertility Center Problems & Outline Possible Solution. WASHINGTON, D.C. – NEWS ADVISORY – A major new fertility center lawsuit and a new issue briefer outlining the lack of U.S. regulation of assisted reproductive technology (ART) clinics, personnel and practices will both be unveiled during a live National Press Club news conference at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, August 7th. The new lawsuit centers on a suburban Columbus, Ohio family who all received home DNA kits as Christmas gifts, only to learn that the daughter had a different father as the result of the mother’s embryo apparently being fertilized secretly with the sperm of a stranger—possibly a medical professional at the Cincinnati fertility center and related hospital consulted by the family. The Ohio lawsuit is being filed and the report issued by the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane (PWCK), which is currently representing hundreds of fertility center clients in recent debacles, including the Los Angeles couple that had their embryo implanted in a stranger in New York by CHA Fertility. PWCK also is a major presence in litigation surrounding the large-scale embryo losses during the spring of 2018 at Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco and University Hospitals in Cleveland. Exploring what is behind an apparent recent surge in fertility center abuses and misconduct, the report to be released Wednesday outlines (1) the lack of meaningful state and federal regulation of fertility centers, (2) the major types of fertility center scandals now being seen in the U.S., and (3) a possible model for regulation to end the “Wild West” days of U.S. assisted reproductive technology. Independent experts from the United States and the United Kingdom will participate in the news event to talk about shortcomings of the current regulatory scheme in the U.S., and how the U.K. takes a much different approach to protecting consumers. News event speakers for the news conference on August 7th, 2019 will include: • The father from the Columbus, OH, area family filing the new lawsuit; • Adam Wolf and Joseph Peiffer, attorneys, PWCK, who will discuss the lawsuit and the issue briefer; • Naomi Cahn, professor at George Washington University Law School and author of the book “Test Tube Families: Why the Fertility Market Needs Legal Regulation”; and • Dr. Amel Alghrani, reader in law and former associate dean (Education) in the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, and author of “Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies: New Horizons.” TO PARTICIPATE IN PERSON: You can attend the news event on August 7th, 2019, 11 a.m. EDT in the Edward R. Murrow Room, the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C. Attendance will be limited to credentialed members of the news media. For security reasons, all attendees must RSVP in advance by contacting: Max Karlin, (703) 276-3255 or [email protected], and Whitney Dunlap, (703) 229-1489 or [email protected]. CAN’T PARTICIPATE IN PERSON?: Journalists outside of the Washington, D.C., area will be able to view a live, one-way streaming webcast of the event at https://prwlegal.com/. MEDIA CONTACTS: Max Karlin, (703) 276-3255 or [email protected]; and Whitney Dunlap, (703) 229-1489 or [email protected]. Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane is a national law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Cleveland, St. Louis, and New Orleans. PWCK is nationally recognized for representing victims in which fertility clinics were accused of misconduct, including destroying or losing eggs and embryos. This is a highly technical area of law and science; individuals seeking legal representation in such matters would be well advised to look to a law firm that has successfully handled such cases in the past. www.LostEmbryos.com