Fertility Clinic Plaintiffs Are Still Grateful

Crispina and Mark Calvert said they were grateful to the UC Irvine fertility clinics that helped them have a healthy 5-year-old son from a surrogate mother. But the couple now is suing the university and fertility team for allegedly misplacing their embryos.

“We always thought that these doctors walked on water,” Mark Calvert said. “They were God-like to us. . . . Now we feel they’ve stolen our heritage.”

At a press conference Friday, the pair spoke about their lawsuit against the University of California and three doctors who were involved in a medical scandal that has left perhaps more than 35 women wondering where their eggs and embryos have ended up.

The Calverts, who cannot bear children on their own, sought medical treatment five years ago from Dr. Ricardo H. Asch, who successfully impregnated a surrogate mother with their biological embryo.

At the time of the pregnancy, the Calverts allege that Asch had fertilized six embryos, two of which he said were viable, and stored them for future use at the UCI Center for Reproductive Health. Now the Calverts contend the two stored embryos are missing.

“No one can seem to tell us where these two embryos are at this present time and we’ve made lots of inquiries to find that out,” said Ronald Lais, the couple’s lawyer. “They just keep stonewalling us and will not tell us where their embryos are.”

The three fertility clinics affiliated with UC Irvine have closed since the controversy broke in May. All eggs and embryos formerly stored at those clinics are now being kept at California Cryo Bank, a storage facility in Los Angeles, said Fran Tardiff, a UC Irvine spokeswoman.

Lais contends that, when his office called the bank, officials refused to disclose information on the Calverts’ embryos and referred Lais to Asch’s lawyer, who also declined to comment.