Advice for clinic mix up

[BettyBe]

Dear ladies, hoping to seek advice for a situation with our private clinic. Sorry if this ends up long winded to explain but I’ll try to be concise and wondering where we stand.

We tried to have a baby naturally for 2 years before discovering my partner had sperm issues after starting ivf tests. It took 18 months to get his sperm back to normal with a private endocrinologist and a lot of money.

We managed to have our transfer after and a lovely boy. When we had our transfer we asked the doctor and embryologist in the room what do we have to do with the sperm, do we need to give a sample to freeze it for next time. They responded with it’s all taken care of and it’s been frozen. I paid all the money and the bill for sperm freezing.

We had 1 egg left after transfer. Fast forward a year to Feb 2019 and I receive a bill for egg freezing but no bill for sperm freezing. I call them up worried only to find out that the sperm was never frozen!!

They said it was a coincidence that we were billed for sperm previously and anyway that was for donor sperm!! We were in bits as my partners sperm has since reverted to its original state since he’s stopped all the progressive drugs.

We had our hopes on this last egg which unfortunately didn’t work and are back to square one. If it had worked then we wouldn’t want to follow this up as we only want one more child. We mentioned this at the start of our final transfer and was offered a free sperm test, which I think is a joke and it was our responsibility to have our speed frozen - even though we asked and was billed for it, giving us the false sense that it had been frozen and safe. They told us that we have no proof in writing also as the query was verbal but I did mention the bill we received and why was a bill sent? They did refund the bill but that’s hardly the issue. We have to start the sperm journey again, lots of money again and older sperm. I want to now follow this up (or after the virus has passed) and just seeking advice on where we stand, if anywhere? I hope this makes sense and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 🌺 xx

[Keepingfaith85]

That's terrible I'm so sorry that happened to you! I would definitely report the clinic, you have proof as you were billed for it and they have clearly been negligent. I'm not sure who to report it to but hopefully ladies on here/Diane will be able to advise xxxx

[BettyBe in reply to Keepingfaith85]

Thank you for your reply and reading my long message 🌺

They’ve tried to blame us saying we should have frozen the sperm before the procedure as that’s their policy and they wouldn’t have frozen any sperm used to fertilise eggs.

We didn’t know they’re policy or how the system works, which is why we asked. Had they not billed us, we would have looked into it back then and had it sorted. My husband went through hell and depression in the medication only to find out he will have to do it all again after the clinics open again which could be another 2 year wait 😔 x

[Keepingfaith85 in reply to BettyBe]

That's just awful. Anyone would think the same as you having been billed for it! It's definitely on them xxx

[BettyBe in reply to Keepingfaith85]

Thanks for the advice and reassurance, would I need to formally complain to them or seek legal advice?

We waited for our last egg to follow this up as we didn’t want the extra worry and stress x

[Keepingfaith85 in reply to BettyBe]

I'm really not sure. You could message the administrator DianeArnold on here she might know the best route to take. Good luck lovely xxx

[BettyBe in reply to Keepingfaith85]

Thank you for the advice, I’ll do that. I don’t think we’ll get anywhere against giant medical firms 😔 xx