A Hopewell Junction, New York, couple and family of four children has sued a Westport-based fertility clinic and a doctor for “accidentally” destroying three of its remaining frozen embryos.
Nicole Couture-Gallagher, 45, and Daniel Gallagher filed the suit in Bridgeport Superior Court on Dec. 17. They seek damages in excess of $15,000 from Illume Fertility and Dr. Mark Leondires, founder and director of Illume, for allegedly destroying three of the 11 frozen embryos the couple left in the care of Illume.
According to the lawsuit, Leondires informed the Gallaghers that Illume had mistakenly discarded three of their frozen embryos – the remainder of what was stored with Illume. “This accident occurred because Illume supposedly confused Nicole’s unique, hyphenated last name with the last name of another patient who had in fact requested the destruction of their embryos,” the suit states.
To make matters worse, the suit alleges Illume’s and Leondire’s negligence was underscored by the fact it took the clinic five years to discover its mistake and alert the Gallaghers.
“This would be a cold and callous response from anyone, but it was especially shocking to hear from their once-trusted fertility doctor in whom they confided their long-time and long-term family planning goals with,” the suit states.
When asked for comment, Illume and Leondires’ attorney Eric Stockman of Stockman, O’Connor, Connors of Shelton gave the following statement:
“Illume Fertility cannot comment on pending litigation, but we firmly trust that we will be vindicated through the legal process. Illume Fertility stands behind our providers and is committed to providing world-class patient-centric care.”
The suit goes on to describe how Dr. Leondires never informed the Gallaghers how something like that could happen. He downplayed their loss and pain by continuously expressing that Nicole and Daniel should “be grateful for the children they were already able to have.”
Through in vitro fertilization (IVF), the couple was able to have triplets by using one of the frozen embyros stored by Illume. (They had a fourth child naturally.) They were hoping to have more children to build a large family similar to the families in which they were raised.
So, while in her 30s Nicole decided to undergo IVF in order to have children then and store the remaining embryos to build a large family later on. More than 14 years ago, they chose Dr Leondires to do the related procedures for help getting pregnant after unsuccessful attempts. Through a process known as frozen embryo transfer, the couple used their frozen embryos for later use. After a transfer of two of the embryos immediately following IVF, the first attempt at pregnancy failed. Then, over the course of a year the couple transferred six of their embryos and Nicole gave birth to triplets in 2011.
The couple also alleges Illume continued to send them invoices for the storage of embryos that had already been discarded years ago, the suit states.
Stockman said it could take up to two years before the suit is heard in court.
