Asch Lawyers Lambaste TV Docudrama

Attorneys for embattled fertility specialist Ricardo H. Asch on Thursday blasted a television docudrama based on the UC Irvine human egg-swapping scandal, accusing the producers of smearing Asch’s reputation as a “highly regarded scientist” by portraying him as an “uncaring doctor.”

“While we do not want to comment on the artistic qualities of the program except to say that they were pathetic, we believe the substance of the show was defamatory,” wrote one of Asch’s attorneys, Josefina Walker, in a prepared release.

Walker said she would demand a retraction of inaccuracies in the broadcast, which was aired Wednesday night at 9 p.m. on the Lifetime cable channel. It was called “For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal.

The two-hour show was based on allegations by former patients and the university that UCI clinic director Asch and two partners took the eggs and embryos of scores of women and implanted them in others.

But the producers acknowledged changing some aspects of the story for dramatic purposes and telling the tale from the points of view of former fertility patients John and Debbie Challender and whistle-blower Marilyn Killane. Asch partners Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda and Dr. Sergio C. Stone were not included in the story line, which focused on Asch alone.

Stone and Balmaceda have been indicted on mail fraud charges related to the clinic’s operations, but Asch has not been publicly charged with anything. He is now living in Mexico.

“The most egregious aspect is the manner in which this show presented many untested allegations as if they were proven facts,” Walker wrote. “Taken separately or as a whole, the show was clearly intent upon portraying Dr. Asch as an uncaring doctor who stole women’s eggs or embryos.”

All three doctors have denied wrongdoing. Stone has pleaded not guilty to the mail fraud charges.