Personal injury law is often directly connected to physical injuries; from car accidents to product failures, these instances certainly make up a large percentage of claims. But what about emotional injury, such as the loss of a potential baby? That’s the focus of our latest article, as a jury recently awarded patients of a San Francisco fertility clinic $14.975 million in damages after one of its cryopreservation tanks failed – resulting in the loss of thousands of eggs and embryos.
Read below to learn more:
Hope for a Brighter Future
If you’ve known anyone going through the trials and tribulations of fertility treatment, you’ll understand how stressful the whole process can be. For many couples, it’s the culmination of years of saving, and is often the last opportunity for them to finally start a family. Fertility clinics are located all over the country, and represent the hope for a bright future for the roughly 9% of men and 11% of women of reproductive age in the United States who are experiencing fertility problems.
It’s easy to understand how emotionally invested patients can become when they learn that an egg was successfully fertilized, or that an embryo is ready for implantation. Pregnancy and parenthood are suddenly within reach.
Shattered Dreams
For the five plaintiffs in A. B., et al v. Chart Industries, Inc., et al, the loss of their potential offspring represented much more than a setback. It shattered their dreams of parenthood, at a time when those dreams were closer than ever to coming true. One of the plaintiffs, Chloe Poynton, 39, lost nine eggs. She describes some of the suffering it caused her, being quoted as saying “It’s really painful to be at a baby shower celebrating someone else’s family being built and knowing inside you’ll never get that…so you start to pull back. You start to isolate.”
While around 400 patients were impacted, this lawsuit was on behalf of three women who lost eggs and a married couple who lost embryos.
Final Verdict
In the end, a jury found that Chart Industries, the manufacturer of the defective cryopreservation tank was ultimately 90% responsible and negligent for failing to recall a malfunctioning part which was found to be a “substantial factor” for causing the failure. The part in question was a controller that monitored liquid nitrogen levels. Chart Industries, which was mentioned as having a 15-year history of equipment failure, was aware that their controller had a high risk of malfunctioning, but hadn’t done anything to protect patients in the event of its failure.
Contact Gokal Law
Have you recently suffered physical or emotional damage at the negligence of another party? You may be entitled to a case. Contact Alison Gokal of Gokal Law Group, Inc. Our team will diligently investigate your claims, interview witnesses, and give you the support you need to win your case. The sooner you contact us, the more effective we are at getting you the justice you deserve.
Gokal Law Group is a family firm that treats our clients as if they were our own flesh and blood. We fight for our clients as we would our own children, sisters, brothers, and parents. We are our clients’ Warriors, fighting to bring them justice and right the wrongs they have endured.
Each attorney has a specific practice area for which they are tried, tested, and battle-ready. Each has vast years of experience in their practice area, providing them the knowledge, skills, and vision to fight and win. Learn more about Gokal Law Group.