Perspective on legal, ethical implications of lost eggs and embryos

"On March 3, 2018, a liquid nitrogen storage tank at the University Hospitals Fertility Center in Cleveland failed. Dr. Eli Adashi, a professor of medical science at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, characterized the event as a "tragic accident" in which 950 patients lost more than 4,000 frozen eggs and embryos.

However, one couple's wrongful death lawsuit following the incident, which seeks to establish that embryos should be treated as "persons" under the law, could have "a chain of profound implications for other families," Adashi says.

In an "Ideas and Opinions" article published on Nov. 20 in Annals of Internal Medicine, Adashi and co-authors I. Glenn Cohen, a professor of law at Harvard University, and Dov Fox, a professor of law policy and bioethics at the University of San Diego, wrote about the potential implications should the Ohio court hearing the case rule in favor of the couple. They argue that a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could lead to limits on abortion, stem cell research and in vitro fertilization (IVF)..." | Learn More >>