List May Show Larger Scandal at UCI Clinic : Controversy: School seeks roster citing more than 200 patients treated by fertility doctors; at least 60 may have been victims of improper egg and embryo transfers, some are told.

UC Irvine is seeking a list of more than 200 patients treated by university doctors at clinics in Orange and Garden Grove to determine whether an egg-stealing scandal is far broader than previously believed.

One patient on the list, which publicly surfaced only in recent weeks, said she was told by UCI police that at least 60 of the patients treated at the clinics may have been involved in improper egg and embryo transfers--almost double the estimate of 35 that UCI officials have released.

But UCI officials say they have not seen the list--apparently prepared by a clinic employee from patient logs--and learned of its existence only when a patient on the roster called them about it last week after being contacted by a newspaper reporter.

“This is completely new information and we have no knowledge of how valid it is,” UCI’s Executive Vice Chancellor Sidney H. Golub said Saturday. But, he added, “We are interested in any information that bears on the treatment of our patients. If there is additional information, we would like to have it.”

Circulated among patients and their attorneys in the past several weeks, the list contains the names of more than 100 egg donors and nearly 100 recipients treated by Drs. Ricardo H. Asch and Jose P. Balmaceda since 1987, according to sources who have seen copies. It was apparently prepared by embryologist Teri Ord in 1994 from egg and embryo logs, the sources said. It is not clear why the list was prepared. Ord, who has moved to Texas, could not be reached for comment.

Asch, Balmaceda and a third physician, Sergio C. Stone, have been accused by UC officials and former patients of stealing the eggs and embryos of patients and giving them to other women or shipping them off for use in research experiments. Many of the couples, who were undergoing fertility treatments, believed the eggs and embryos were being stored for their future use, according to lawsuits filed against the doctors.

The physicians have repeatedly denied any intentional wrongdoing.

Ronald G. Brower, Asch’s attorney, said Friday that the list is extensive and he has not had an opportunity to review it. Also, he said, many of the medical records he would need to make sense of the list have been confiscated by state and federal officials as part of a criminal investigation.

Balmaceda’s attorney, Patrick Moore, could not be reached for comment Saturday. Stone’s lawyer, Karen Taillon, said her client seldom performed egg or embryo transfers and could not have been involved in any of transfers documented on the list.

The roster, which indicates the names of patients, the dates of procedures, the number of eggs donated and whether pregnancy resulted--appears to be a summary of procedures performed at UCI or the former AMI/Garden Grove Medical Center, the sources said. There is no way of knowing from the list whether it is complete or whether the transfers were approved by patients or not, they said. In many cases, only the patients’ first initials are listed.

But several patients or their attorneys say the list identifies a new group of unwitting donors and recipients. The university has not informed them that they are among the estimated 35 patients ensnared in the fertility controversy, the patients and attorneys said.

Carlos Parham of Fullerton said his wife, Barbara, was listed as a donor although she never agreed to donate. The couple, who sought care at the Garden Grove clinic in 1987, say they were never informed by any medical or university officials that three of Barbara’s eggs had been misappropriated.

Intead, they were told of their place on the list by a newspaper reporter about a week and a half ago. “We’d had been very aware of what was going on” with the fertility scandal, he said. “But we had no idea we would be affected. It came as an extreme shock.”

“People who were going to the clinic were not going to donate eggs,” said Gary Smith of Tustin, who recently learned his wife was listed as a donor as well. “They were trying to have children. We’ve never heard anything from the university before or since. The university is not acting responsibly at all.”

The university has contacted or attempted to contact all of the patients it suspects were affected, UCI officials said. Golub said officials cannot contact victims they do not know about, and urged patients who believe they may have been victimized to notify the university immediately.

The list is in the hands of the U.S. attorney’s office and other criminal investigators on a task force looking into the doctors’ activities, according to a source familiar with the task force’s activities.

But Golub said UCI administrators are not privy to information gathered by law enforcement authorities. The UCI police force is assisting the task force, but does not--and is not permitted to--share its findings with the university, he said.

“We simply are absolutely in the dark,” Golub said. “The last time we had any new information was July or August” when UCI increased its estimate of patients affected from five to as many as 35.

Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office have declined to discuss any aspect of the probe. No charges have been filed against any of the doctors.

Golub emphasized Saturday that the university has never said 35 was the upper limit of patients affected. Officials have no idea how many patients may have been involved because it has been unable to obtain relevant medical records.

Smith and his wife, Elizabeth Shaw Smith, were tipped off about possible misconduct six weeks ago by an anonymous caller who told them he had documents indicating that the fertility doctors “didn’t act as they should have,” said Gary Smith, 57.

Concerned that they had fallen victim to the fertility scandal as well, Smith contacted the UCI Police Department and reported the call. He said UCI Assistant Police Chief Dennis Powers called the couple 10 days later and told them, “as far as he knew there was nothing done wrong to our eggs.”

Powers also told the Smiths that 60 cases were being investigated but that their names were not among them, Gary Smith said. The couple later learned from a reporter that Elizabeth Shaw Smith’s name was included as a donor. And medical records showed that four of her 20 eggs had been donated without the couple’s consent, she said.

Powers could not be reached Saturday and UCI police said they had no information concerning he list.

After pumping thousands of dollars into the clinic and entrusting their personal lives to the doctors, the Smiths still were not able to have children. They said they are now resentful that clinic and hospital officials have not closely monitored the fertility procedures nor have they been accountable to their patients.

“This was a very deliberate, preconceived and diabolical plan,” Gary Smith said.

Times staff writers Tracy Weber and Michael Granberry contributed to this report.