UCI Officials Slow to Act at Clinic, Asch’s Attorney Says

Attorneys questioning UC Irvine Executive Vice Chancellor Sidney Golub learned little during an all-day deposition Monday, but reiterated attacks upon UCI administrators for failing to promptly correct problems at the once-renowned fertility clinic.

Attorney Lloyd Charton, who represents Dr. Ricardo H. Asch, the physician at the center of the UCI fertility scandal, called for the removal of Golub and UCI Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening. He said they knew of faulty patient consent procedures for more than a year before seeking to rectify the situation.

But Byron Beam, a lawyer who represents UCI on the fertility matter, said Golub and other administrators acted as rapidly as university policy would allow. Further, Beam said efforts to uncover the truth at the fertility clinic were thwarted by Asch and his two partners, who he said refused to cooperate with numerous investigations.

Charton also said Golub’s decision to suspend Asch without pay in the wake of the scandal was motivated by revenge. While serving on a university committee during the 1992-93 school year, Asch recommended against hiring Golub for one of many vice chancellor jobs at UCI. (Golub was subsequently hired for his current higher post in September 1994.)

Beam dismissed the accusation saying: “Golub didn’t know Asch then from a man in the moon.”

Golub will be questioned further by attorneys, but no date has been scheduled.

Meanwhile, Wilkening is scheduled to be deposed Wednesday.

Asch and his partners, Drs. Jose P. Balmaceda and Sergio Stone, are accused of taking the eggs and embryos of scores of women and, without their consent, implanting them in others. The doctors are the subject of at least seven investigations.

The university has accused the doctors of insurance fraud, financial wrongdoing and research misconduct. All three have denied deliberate malfeasance. Asch and Balmaceda have left the country, while Stone--who sat in on Thursday’s deposition--continues to live in Orange County.