9 more couples whose embryos were destroyed sue Newport Beach fertility clinic

“Your odds of success do not improve with age,” Berger, 37, said. “We don’t really know, this could really have been our last chance to have children.”

The IVF process takes months just to get to the point of implantation, she said.

The procedure has over a 75% chance of success, the lawsuit says.

Benjamin Ikuta, another attorney representing the plaintiffs, said it’s believed upwards of 80 couples could have been affected.

The company only disclosed the mishap after “several of the couples’ fertility doctors questioned why there was a 100% failure rate for the embryos that had been thawed over that two week period,” the lawsuit says.

Hardy and Berger said their primary physician heard numerous stories from Ovation, including temperature, pH issues and others.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened to our embryos,” Berger said, adding that the couple primarily wants answers. “We shouldn’t have to hire lawyers to find out what happened to them.”

In addition, the lawsuit claims the company tried to “sweep the matter under the rug” by attempting to have patients sign waivers of their claims and non-disparagement agreements and “tried to trick these un-represented couples into signing a release agreement in exchange for a refund of lab fees,” which were more than $5,000 each.

Ovation Fertility hired inexperienced, unqualified and untrained employees to handle embryos in the incubators, the suit alleges.

A second couple, identified by their initials and as residents of Catalina Island, read a statement at a Tuesday press conference and said they tried in vitro fertilization after three miscarriages and two failed intrauterine insemination procedures.

The couple had two embryos, one of which was considered a high-grade and high-quality female embryo, which they had named Kalani Noelle.

“She was meant to complete our family,” the couple said in the lawsuit. “Unfortunately, Kalani Noelle did not make it despite her great odds. Kalani Noelle, as it was later discovered, had no actual chance at all as she was killed in a lab error before she was implanted.”

Ovation Fertility, in a statement Tuesday, said the company has protocols in place to “protect the health and integrity of every embryo under our care.

“This was an isolated incident related to an unintended laboratory technician error that impacted a very small number of patients,” the clinic’s statement continued. “As soon as we recognized that pregnancy numbers were lower than our usually high success rates, we immediately initiated an investigation. We did not knowingly transfer nonviable embryos for implantation.”

Oviation Fertility said it has been in close contact with “these few impacted patients since the issue was discovered.”