Thursday, 6 May 2010

Errors at fertility clinics double in just one year


The number of reported mistakes a t the 138 fertility clinics in England and Wales nearly doubled in the year to April 2009, rising to 334 from 182 the previous year. One leading patient safety expert has now warned that blunders which have occurred as record numbers of women seek treatment, may be "systemic".


The increase comes as one clinic, IVF Wales, is at the centre of a fresh scandal this weekend after losing the last two remaining embryos it had frozen for one of its patients. It is the second time in less than 12 months that a mix up at the centre, based at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, has left patients devastated.

In the last shocking error an embryo was implanted in the wrong woman.
Deborah Hole and Paul Thomas's hopes of a sibling for their son Jamie were shattered in 2007 after an IVF error in which Deborah's embryo was implanted in the wrong woman.

Deborah, 41, from Bridgend, Wales, later found out that the woman had aborted the pregnancy. Doctors at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff admitted that an error by a trainee meant two embryos had been mixed up and, in breach of guidelines, stored in an incubator. An investigation concluded safety procedures were not followed.

Deborah and Paul were paid a five-figure sum in compensation. "I kept dreaming that the stranger implanted with my embryo had given birth to my baby," she said.


No comments:

Post a Comment