7 Couples Sue UC, Alleging Misuse of Eggs : Scandal: Suits also name 3 UCI fertility specialists, whose lawyers repeat that their clients did not knowingly engage in wrongdoing.

A Newport Beach attorney filed lawsuits Monday on behalf of seven more couples allegedly victimized in the UC Irvine fertility scandal, contending their eggs or embryos were stolen and that some were implanted in other women without permission.

The lawsuits by attorney Theodore S. Wentworth name the University of California and three of its renowned fertility specialists as defendants, bringing the number of scandal-related legal claims involving UCI to about 17.

“It’s been terribly upsetting, more so than anything I’ve ever experienced or would ever hope to,” said one plaintiff, Nancy Vanags of Anaheim.

Vanags and her husband, Maris, have alleged that UCI’s fertility team misappropriated 18 of her eggs and implanted three or more in other women. “People who have not been through this could not possibly understand the trauma of what this is like,” she said. “It’s hell. I know no other way to describe it.”

University officials said they could not comment on pending litigation. Spokeswoman Fran Tardiff did note, however, that only one of the plaintiffs in the suits is among the estimated 35 women the university has identified as being possible victims of improper egg transfers at UCI and at an affiliated clinic in Garden Grove. The rest have not been considered by UCI as possible donors or recipients of stolen eggs.

“There are more than 35 that were victimized by UCI and the doctors,” insisted Wentworth, who estimated the actual number is “more than double that.”

“This is probably one of the most horrendous, emotional cases I have ever seen,” the attorney added. “One of the measures of a university is what they do with power and trust, and in this case the university and the doctors flunked.”

The complaints pertain to alleged misconduct at UCI’s Center for Reproductive Health and its predecessor, a fertility clinic at AMI/Garden Grove Medical Center, between 1988 and 1991. Both clinics are now closed.

Attorneys for the three doctors--Ricardo H. Asch, Jose P. Balmaceda and Sergio C. Stone--had not seen the lawsuits, but all repeated their positions that their clients did not knowingly engage in wrongdoing.

“Our preliminary reaction is that we are going to dispute and contest all those lawsuits and they are going to be vigorously defended,” said Asch’s civil attorney, Ken E. Steelman.

Patrick Moore, who represents Balmaceda, said his client practiced mostly at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills from 1989 on. That clinic is still open.

Stone’s attorney, Karen L. Taillon, accused Wentworth of trying to drum up publicity in hopes of being named a lead attorney if all the fertility cases are consolidated in Orange County Superior Court. She also said Wentworth is not following rules requiring him to give 90-day notice of his intention to sue.

The suits are the second volley in a concerted legal battle by Wentworth, who in June filed suit on behalf of a Corona couple alleging their embryos were stolen and implanted in a Newport Beach woman who gave birth to twins. Like the first lawsuit, this set of complaints accuses the doctors of lying to patients about the fate of their embryos, and accuses the university of negligent supervision.

According to the suits, both the University of California and the physicians betrayed patients in a “conspiracy” to increase the fertility center’s success rate. And the university, the suits allege, bought the silence of whistle-blowers who might have exposed the scheme. The filings also allege that the defendants inflicted emotional distress on the patients and failed to properly maintain relevant medical records.

“It’s been totally devastating to us,” said plaintiff Diane Porter, 33, of Valley, Neb., who with her husband, Budge Porter, 40, first sought help from Asch in 1991.

The Porters, who eventually conceived a daughter through fertility procedures elsewhere, contend that four of Diane Porter’s eggs were taken by Asch without permission. According to the lawsuit, the doctor intended to implant them in another woman--the same woman who allegedly received the Corona couple’s embryos--but the eggs were never successfully fertilized.

Still, Diane Porter said she feels betrayed.

“Our whole lives changed from the moment we heard about it [in late May],” she said. “It’s been . . . a shattering experience. It’s been many sleepless nights and anxieties, not knowing when the next shoe would drop.”

Other couples suing are Michael and Diane Mills of San Clemente; Ken and Sharon Starr of Beaumont; Kathy and Pedro Lopez of Lake Elsinore; Rebecca and Clifford Robinson of Riverside, and Bruce and Deborah Diller of Santa Ana.