Embryo Mix-Up, Resulting Abortion, and Adequate Justice?
Well, in case that is catching alot of media attention involves a couple who went back to their IVF clinic in the UK to use their last remaining embryos to create a second child. The reports are as follows:
"A couple who were having IVF treatment when their final embryo was implanted in another woman by mistake said today they might use the compensation they received to try for another child.
The couple, from Bridgend, south Wales, who have a six-year-old son and are identified only as Deborah and Paul, won a legal battle against the IVF Wales clinic, in Cardiff. The woman who received their embryo was told of the mistake shortly after it occurred and decided to terminate the pregnancy.
Deborah and Paul said they would consider trying for another child but it would be two years before they seriously thought about attempting another cycle of IVF treatment because they were not "emotionally ready" after the blunder by the Cardiff and Vale NHS trust.
They turned down an offer of another round of IVF treatment by the trust free of charge after the mix-up and reiterated today that they could never return to the trust because they had lost faith in its staff and procedures.
Nine embryos had been created using IVF in 2000, and Deborah, a 38-year-old hospital worker, subsequently gave birth to a son.
The remaining embryos were stored until 2007, when she and her husband, a 40-year-old print plant manager, decided to try for a second child. One of the embryos had survived and they travelled to the clinic for treatment, only to be told of the mix-up.
Deborah said the couple had been hoping to provide their son with a sister. Describing the moment when they were told about the mistake, she said: "We felt absolutely devastated. Both of us got very tearful.
"We just wanted to get out of there. The actual mention of the termination part of it really upsets us because we tend to think of the embryo as the little boy that we have got because he was from the first batch of embryos."
Paul said: "It took some time afterwards for it to sink in. We decided then we wanted to investigate and we wanted a full report. They were supposed to send us an investigation and they weren't sending anything. That was when we involved a solicitor to look into the case and investigate it."
The causes of the blunder remained secret until lawyers obtained reports into the incident. Documents acquired by their solicitor, Guy Forster, showed that the previous year there had been "near misses" because of problems in monitoring the ownership of embryos."
As you can see the couple is devasted, and the age of the mother, who is now over 40, now works against them retrieving potentially new embryos. Many are also debating whether the woman who became pregnant should have aborted. Should she have agreed to be a surrogate mother for this couple? I don't know - considering she was trying to get pregnant herself. This is not an ideal solution in any stretch of the imagination. What are your thoughts? What should that woman have done?
As for the courts, they awarded the couple $50K according to reports. Is that enough to compensate this couple? Is any amount enough to compensate this couple?
All I can say is that I feel deeply sorry for both couples - no one is a winner in this mess.
