Jason and Melissa Diaz wanted to start a family, but with their health histories, ensuring a healthy baby would be a more involved process. According to the Los Angeles Times, Jason had previously had his stomach removed and had chemotherapy treatment to give himself a fighting chance against diffuse gastric cancer. He has a genetic mutation that increases his risk of gastric cancers by 80%.
Melissa herself is a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which makes her highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancers. They invested their faith and money into the in vitro fertilization route and genetic screening through Huntington Reproductive Center Fertility in Pasadena, California, to ensure their baby would not have the mutations. They welcomed a son in September 2021. But now, they are suing the fertility center.
According to CBS News, Melissa had two separate egg-retrieval procedures that resulted in five embryos. Her first transfer in 2020 of a clear embryo with neither gene ended in miscarriage.
The lawsuit states that with none of the remaining embryos being clear of mutation, the couple chose “to implant a male embryo with the BRCA-1 gene on their next attempt, as it was less likely a boy would develop breast cancer.” That implantation resulted in a healthy pregnancy. Melissa gave birth to a boy in September 2021.
They feel they've been betrayed.
Hoping to have a second child, Melissa requested a copy of her embryo report in July 2022. In the report, it stated that their son carried both CDH1 and BRCA1 genes. There were even handwritten notes stating that the implanted embryo (her son) carried the mutated stomach cancer gene.
Melissa asked HRC to double-check the report, writing, "the reason why we did IVF was to eliminate the gastric cancer mutation if not both genetic mutations. We have been so stressed thinking of what our son will go through because of this genetic mutation. Can you please double-check that this is the correct report for our embryos?"
They also claim information was omitted.
In their lawsuit, the couple asserts that an HRC employee reached out and “admitted that HRC had made a serious mistake,” and asked them to come into the office. Melissa requested her medical records and reportedly found that information regarding which embryo was transferred was omitted.
The incriminating notes had disappeared. "When finally HRC sent the records, they were whited out. It was shocking that my own medical provider changed my records showing that they knew they had done something wrong," Melissa explains according to CBS News.
The clinic has responded.
According to CBS News, HRC’s spokesperson stated that the Diaz family conducted genetic testing and counseling outside of HRC fertility, with an outside party.
"They wished to have a male embryo transferred, which we carried out according to the family's explicit wishes and in accordance with the highest level of care," the spokesperson said.
The parents believe there needs to be 'justice.'
According to the American Medical Association, one of the key standards that define honorable physician behavior is that, “A physician shall uphold the standards of professionalism, be honest in all professional interactions, and strive to report physicians deficient in character or competence, or engaging in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.”
Jason and Melissa's son now faces an 80% chance of having stomach cancer. Jason has seen the way this cancer has devastated his family and will be beside his son through anything that happens. "I know, somehow, we will get through this with strength and grace," he said according to CBS News. "But there has to be justice."
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