UCI Fertility Doctor Seized in Argentina

A doctor fleeing fraud charges stemming from the 1994 scandal at UC Irvine’s now-defunct fertility clinic was captured this week as he tried to slip into Argentina, U.S. officials said Friday.

Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda, 53, who had eluded federal agents monitoring his activities for more than two years, was arrested Thursday after customs officials at Buenos Aires Airport recognized him as a fugitive, authorities said.

Balmaceda fled to his native Chile in 1995 at the height of the scandal, which began when a whistle-blower accused three physicians who ran the clinic of underreporting income.

It soon drew national attention when allegations emerged that the doctors had harvested eggs from women undergoing fertility treatments in four Southern California medical facilities from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, implanting some eggs in other women and funneling others into research.

Some couples bore children conceived from the eggs of other women without the knowledge of the biological parents, investigators said. UC Irvine officials accused the three doctors of stealing eggs and embryos from at least 70 patients.

A federal grand jury in 1996 indicted Balmaceda and a partner, Dr. Ricardo H. Asch, on 30 counts of mail fraud. The two doctors allegedly created false reports in a scheme to bilk medical insurance companies for fertility treatments that were not covered. Both men had already fled the country.

A third physician who ran the clinic, Dr. Sergio C. Stone, was convicted in 1997 of fraudulently billing insurance companies. He was fined $50,000 and ordered to serve a year of home detention. The UC Board of Regents fired Stone last year.

“Dr. Balmaceda was one of the ringleaders in the fraud that shocked Orange County,” said John Hueston, chief of the U.S. attorney’s office in Santa Ana. “Our office is gratified that the long efforts of the FBI and others . . . have paid off.”

The arrest was applauded Friday by Melanie R. Blum, an attorney who has represented dozens of families in litigation against the fertility clinic and its doctors.

“It’s a surprise because I really believed that our federal government had lost interest in bringing them back,” Blum said. “It’s finally coming full circle. I think a lot of the families will be interested in seeing some justice done. They felt a little cheated that the doctors walked away and didn’t face anything.”

Stone, the only doctor who has been tried in connection with the scandal, said he sympathizes with Balmaceda’s family but is pleased that his former partner is finally in custody.

“I’m sorry for him, but he needs to be responsible,” said Stone, adding that he blames Balmaceda for many of his own legal problems. “I believe that he should return and face justice. I believe I have suffered for this enormously.”

Balmaceda’s attorney could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the university declined to comment.

UC Irvine sued Balmaceda, Asch and Stone for more than $20 million in an effort to recoup money it paid to settle lawsuits stemming from the scandal.

Kelli Gora, a former patient of Balmaceda who has sued the university, said clinic records show that at least one of her embryos is missing and may have been used to impregnate another woman. Though she remains angry over the ordeal, Gora said Balmaceda’s arrest offers her some comfort.

“That makes me feel better that he’ll be held directly responsible, so he’s not in a different country, scot-free,” she said. “He might be able to see some of the pain that’s been caused.”

Federal prosecutors are continuing to push for the return of Asch, who they believe is living and running a fertility clinic in Mexico City. Officials are preparing to file papers asking for the doctor’s extradition but are unsure when he might face trial, Hueston said.

The effort to return Balmaceda and Asch to Orange County has been a tortuous one, partly because neither is a U.S. citizen and partly because they settled in countries from which extradition is difficult.

Believing it unlikely they could win Balmaceda’s return from Chile, FBI agents spent the last two years keeping tabs on him, hoping they could seize him if he left that country, Hueston said.

In May, federal agents received tips that Balmaceda, who was running a fertility clinic, planned to travel to Argentina and Panama for conferences and other engagements. In response, U.S. officials filed provisional arrest warrants with those and other South American countries, asking authorities to detain the doctor should he visit.

Meanwhile, agents continued watching Balmaceda and traveled to a number of conferences they expected him to attend. On each occasion the doctor failed to appear--until Thursday.

Buenos Aires police have promised to keep Balmaceda jailed for as long as 60 days while awaiting papers seeking his extradition. U.S. officials said they expect Balmaceda to fight any return to this country but that a 1997 extradition agreement signed with Argentina makes it likely he will be sent back soon.