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$15M awarded over eggs, embryos ruined at fertility clinic

Second US fertility clinic reports egg storage tank malfunction

CNN

<p>More than 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos have been left compromised at the University Hospitals Fertility Clinic in Cleveland fertility clinic after a malfunction caused temperatures to drop in the freezers storing them last weekend.</p>

By: Associated Press

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal jury has awarded nearly $15 million to five people who lost eggs or embryos when a cryogenic storage tank failed at a San Francisco fertility clinic.

Jurors on Thursday found the tank maker, Chart Industries, 90% responsible for the 2018 mishap that ruined thousands of eggs and embryos at Pacific Fertility Center.

The center was found 10% responsible.

At trial, the five plaintiffs described their pain at their loss, which jurors blamed on malfunctioning equipment.

The award — including more than $14 million in damages for pain, suffering and emotional distress — will go to three women who lost eggs and a married couple who lost embryos.

Their case is the first to go to a jury, but hundreds of other people also have sued the clinic and Chart Industries Inc., which made the cryogenic tank where the specimens were stored.