An Australian IVF company is set to pay 700 former patients $56m after an alleged defective testing program robbed families of viable embryos. Monash IVF had been set to defend the class action in court later this year, but on Thursday it was announced the company had reached a “no admission of liability” settlement following mediation. Prior to this, they were defending the claim.
First lead plaintiff in the case, Danielle Bopping, claimed families and lives were irrevocably changed by Monash IVF’s commercially driven practices. “We also hope that this case helps to draw attention to the fact that IVF in Australia has become a multimillion-dollar industry, which does not always put the best interests of its patients first,” Ms Bopping said. The $56m settlement is still subject to approval from the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The class action statement of claim alleged employees of one of the defendant companies, Repromed, deliberately doctored the results of a clinical trial, forged patient signatures on consent forms and burned documents to cover up incriminating evidence of illegal experiments on patient embryos. Lawyers for the patients claimed about 35 per cent of embryos found to be abnormal by the flawed testing were actually normal and could have potentially resulted in viable pregnancies. Lead lawyer for the patients, Michel Margalit, said “scientific innovation does not warrant treating paying customers as unknowing guinea pigs”.
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