A group of couples filed a joint lawsuit against a fertility clinic claiming it knowingly implanted dead embryos into multiple women in January. The suit alleges a lab embryologist at Ovation Fertility mishandled their embryos, ultimately killing them, but continued with implantation without informing the mothers. Brooke Berger, 37, and her husband Bennett Hardy, 33, are among the devastated couples looking for justice.
The husband and wife told People their in vitro fertilization journey began in 2022 with seven viable embryos. Sadly, the couple's dream of having a baby didn't come true with their first five embryos, but they didn't give up hope. They reportedly shipped their remaining two embryos from Colorado to California and had them implanted by a doctor there. But when they received news about their transfer a few weeks later, it was nothing they could have ever imagined.
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The couple's new doctor implanted the embryos in late January.
Berger told People they opted to have both embryos implanted simultaneously in hopes of success. She had the procedure done on January 25 but found out a short time later there would be no baby.
According to court documents obtained by People, Berger and Hardy filed a suit with eight other couples who allege an Ovation Fertility lab embryologist used a caustic agent instead of a sterile liquid in an incubator that caused the embryos to be "killed instantly." The company allegedly knowingly implanted "these dead embryos into the would-be mothers."
Berger and Hardy were heartbroken.
Berger told People she was devastated. "There was no chance at all. We found out that we went through all of this for nothing. It was really heartbreaking," she said.
Hardy added that although the couple is going through the heartache together, his wife has taken the brunt of the pain, "It's just so hard seeing her with these medications, and the pain, and the whole process, and then for it to be for nothing, in this case where it's not even our fault — it's devastating."
All the plaintiffs reportedly had IVF procedures around the same time.
According to court documents, each of the women visited the clinic between January 18 and January 30 and should have had a 75% success rate, but in reality, there was 0% as Ovation Fertility allegedly knew the embryos were not viable.
Robert H. Marcereau, an attorney for the victims, told People that the company allegedly knew exactly what happened but did not tell the patients. "We've also received an anonymous whistleblower who mentioned their cover-ups of specifically not documenting all these lab failures with the embryos or even destroying documents to avoid liability. They don't have qualified personnel and protocols to ensure things like this don't happen," he said.
Ovation Fertility reportedly reached out to the victims.
Per People, Ovation Fertility President Conor Beardsley sent a letter to the plaintiffs "to confirm the understanding we have reached to provide you with certain accommodations regarding your fertility care."
There was reportedly no talk of compensation, but a lab manager reportedly contacted each of the couples, asking them to sign a release stating they would not disparage the company. None of the couples signed.
"We can't speak to whether or not there may be some criminal action," Marcereau told People. "There may be. If there is widespread fraud and intentional conduct, it could be. We haven't gotten to the bottom of what happened with the embryos. But it can certainly be criminal.
"We have a lot of questions and no answers yet," he continued. "That's what this litigation is going to be about. We want answers for these grieving couples and ensure nothing like this ever happens again."
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Berger wants to try again.
She and Hardy still hope to have a baby someday. They are sharing their story to warn other couples about what could happen to them.
"We do want to do this again. We're trying not to give up this fight, even with this setback," Berger said, per People. "It's going to mean several months of medications and injections again and these procedures. But many doctors around here use Ovation, and we refuse to use them because we no longer trust them. We'll need to find a doctor we'd like to move forward with that won't be associated with that facility."
