A woman is suing a fertility clinic after her frozen eggs, preserved for 15 years, may be lost, leading to the devastation of her dreams of becoming a mother.
Paula Cervoni, a Manhattan woman, has come forward with a distressing lawsuit alleging that the eggs she froze 15 years ago at a prominent fertility clinic mysteriously vanished when she was finally prepared to use them at the age of 57.
The shocking revelation has left Ms Cervoni devastated, as she had meticulously preserved these eggs with the hope of one day becoming a mother.
Her long-awaited dream now hangs in the balance due to alleged negligence and a series of mishaps.
Back in 2006, at the tender age of 42 and single, Ms Cervoni made the brave decision to undergo a costly procedure at Advanced Fertility Services, located in New York's Upper East Side.
Setting her sights on the future, she entrusted the clinic with 11 precious eggs, paying a staggering sum of over $21,000 for the privilege, as stated in her Manhattan Supreme Court filing seen by New York Post.
Displaying her unwavering determination, Ms Cervoni diligently continued to invest $600 annually to ensure the eggs' safekeeping until 2016, even after the clinic changed hands.
Having patiently waited for over a decade, Ms Cervoni found herself ready to utilize her preserved oocytes (immature eggs) in 2021.
Her plan was to either conceive using her partner's sperm or enlist the services of a surrogate to bring their child into the world.
However, a chilling discovery awaited her at Manhattan Fertility Services, the clinic that had taken over Advanced Fertility Services' egg storage operations.
But no one could confirm the whereabouts of Ms Cervoni's eggs.
Instead, she was met with an unhelpful pointing of fingers toward other companies supposedly responsible for safeguarding the genetic material, as outlined in the legal documents.
“I am tormented by the fact that my oocytes were destroyed without my knowledge or my written consent which was required, sold to someone else or sitting in storage somewhere unlabeled and unaccounted for," she said.
And added: “They have been negligent and uncaring about the most important property that I owned, it was my own tissue that I wanted to use when I was ready to.”
She further emphasized the immense emotional toll the loss has taken on her, stating, "When I reunited with my partner a few years ago, we considered building a family together, and the fact that I had taken the great time, energy, and expense to safely store my oocytes made this a real possibility."
The sense of devastation is palpable as she grapples with the haunting possibility that her eggs were destroyed without her knowledge or written consent, potentially sold to someone else, or left languishing in a storage facility, untraceable and unrecognized.
Ms Cervoni, a management consultant, has decided to pursue legal action and is seeking unspecified damages for the immense pain and suffering she has endured.
Her lawyer, Jill Teitel, echoed Ms Cervoni's sentiments, emphasizing the responsibility that healthcare providers and facilities hold when it comes to preserving and protecting patients' eggs.
"Ms. Cervoni needed to rely on her doctors and facilities to abide by the law and treat her eggs with care, cryopreserve them properly, and keep proper records of them for future use," Teitel asserted.
Manhattan Fertility Services has been contacted for comment.
