TRUMBULL, Conn. — Trumbull-based fertility company CooperSurgical is facing federal lawsuits for allegedly selling defective products to fertility clinics across the country.
The attorney on the cases said countless embryos were killed due to negligence on the supplier company's part.
California attorney Tracey Cowen said anyone going through invitro fertilization already has to spend a lot of time, money, and emotional stress as it is. Still, now, after their chances of having a child were hurt without any fault of their own, they want to hold the company accountable.
Cowen said the company sold what’s called “media culture” to fertility clinics across the country last fall. The culture is the liquid in the petri dish with the couple’s eggs and sperm when trying to create an embryo.
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A key ingredient in that media culture is magnesium. Cowen said these samples from CooperSurgical did not have magnesium in them, killing almost all chances of an embryo ever forming.
According to Cowan, the impacted samples were sold in November and December, but her office gets calls weekly about newly impacted samples. Four more suits were filed just last week.
She said the couples she represents have spent up to $60,000 trying the IVF process, all for this company to ruin the chance of success.
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Cowen said they seek monetary results after suffering from the enormous emotional burden of thinking the lack of success was their fault.
“Clients may know they had a really bad cycle and they had unexplained bad results, but only some are finding out now they were impacted by this,” Cowen said. “I have clients that were on their way to transfer embryos exposed to this media, and it’s only then that they found out that their embryo had been exposed to this defective media.”
FOX61 has contacted CooperSurgical for a response to the lawsuit but has not heard back.
Cowen said that as the case continues to develop, she expects hundreds of people to join the lawsuit.
If you suspect your fertility clinic might have been involved, Cowen said to contact your clinic to discuss the situation. If your IVF process turns out to be impacted by the defective material, you can contact Cowan here.
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Brooke Griffin is a reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at bgriffin@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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