PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsSperm mix-up involving 26 women at Dutch IVF clinic

BioNews

Sperm mix-up involving 26 women at Dutch IVF clinic

Published 31 August 2017 posted in News and appears in BioNews 883

Author

Georgia Everett

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

A Dutch IVF clinic is currently under investigation after it came to light that dozens of its patients might have been fertilised by the wrong sperm — half of whom are pregnant or have already given birth...

A Dutch IVF clinic is currently under investigation after it came to light that dozens of its patients might have been fertilised by the wrong sperm – half of whom are pregnant or have already given birth.

The University Medical Centre (UMC) in Utrecht revealed that a 'procedural error' had taken place in its IVF laboratory and sperm cells from a couple undergoing treatment may have ended up mixed with the egg cells of 26 other couples. As a result, there is a possibility that the fertilised eggs may not carry the genetic material of the intended father.

Of the 26 women affected, 13 had their embryos frozen for future use, four are currently pregnant and nine had their children prior to the revelation – the oldest child possibly involved in the mix-up is now aged one.

Upon becoming aware of the error, UMC Utrecht launched an investigation into what happened and put together an improvement plan. In the meantime it has restricted the clinic's activities, pending a decision to resume certain procedures at a later date. The UMC supervisory board has also sought to inform all couples involved of the error, and has invited them in to explain the events that led to it occurring. It has offered to provide counselling and the option of a DNA test to confirm paternity.

The patients involved all underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), where sperm is directly injected into the egg cell to encourage successful fertilisation. A hospital spokesperson told the New York Times that the error was revealed when a laboratory technician noticed that sperm cells from a previous patient were present in an ICSI pipette used to inject sperm – apparently because the technician had used the wrong rubber top at the end of the pipette.

BBC News says that it was told by the hospital that the rubber top would typically be disposed of after each treatment, but that in this instance it was used for a number of procedures until the rogue sperm was spotted. It also said the rubber top should normally have a filter, but that it was missing from this particular one. The error could have affected couples receiving treatment between April 2015 and November 2016.

Professor David Keefe, who chairs New York University's department of obstetrics and gynaecology and runs his own IVF clinic, told the Washington Post: 'This is one of many examples where [ICSI] can go awry. It's very sobering that one of the very best fertility centers in the most regulated country in the world still had risk.'

However, Professor Keefe goes on to explain how he suspects that UMC was merely being overly cautious and abiding to ethical expectations by publicly announcing the error as 'the thought that [a sperm] would have gotten up into the [rubber top] is interesting, but theoretical. There aren't that many sperm to get up there.'

Shortly after UMC's statement was released, it was reported that a Czech fertility clinic, Reprofit, had accidentally implanted two women with each other's embryos. The women had both travelled to clinic from other EU countries to receive treatment.

Matej Stejskal, the vice-chairman of the clinic's holding company, FutureLife, said that the mishap was a result of 'human error, not a system failure' and that 'the people who manipulated the embryos are suspended'.

The Czech Republic's State Institute for Drug Control is reportedly investigating the error, which could also give rise to legal issues as, according to Czech law, the legal mother of the baby is the woman who gives birth to the child, regardless of genetic maternity. 

Related Articles

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
11 November 2021 • 1 minute read

DNA test uncovers IVF sperm mix-up 11 years later

by Michaela Chen

A Utah couple is suing their IVF clinic after discovering that sperm from another patient was used to conceive their son...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 August 2019 • 2 minutes read

US couple launch lawsuit after ancestry test reveals sperm mix-up

by Sarah Gregory

A couple in Ohio is suing a fertility clinic and associated organisations after a genetic test given as a Christmas present revealed a sperm mix-up in their IVF treatment...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
12 July 2019 • 2 minutes read

Couple sues IVF clinic after embryo mix-up

by Dr Rachel Montgomery

A couple are suing a US fertility clinic after an IVF mix-up resulted in the woman giving birth to twin boys unrelated to them - or each other...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
11 September 2017 • 2 minutes read

Dutch sperm donor may have fathered 102 children

by Jen Willows

A man is being investigated in the Netherlands after claims he fathered over 100 children through sperm donation...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
26 September 2016 • 2 minutes read

Woman wrongly listed as a child's mother following IVF

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

An Australian woman has been wrongly listed as the biological mother of a child born following IVF treatment...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
14 September 2016 • 4 minutes read

US sperm donor admits he misled sperm bank

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

A US man who fathered more than 30 children by sperm donation has reportedly admitted that he lied about his background to a sperm bank, which is currently being sued by the parents of one of the children conceived with his sperm...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
10 May 2016 • 1 minute read

Woman sues US sperm bank again for sperm mix-up

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

A woman is suing a sperm bank in the USA for the second time, alleging that it provided sperm from the wrong donor...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
20 April 2016 • 3 minutes read

Donor lied about mental illness and criminal history, say US sperm bank clients

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

Three families are suing a US sperm bank and its Canadian distributor for allegedly misleading them about the health and criminal history of their sperm donor...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
News
7 September 2015 • 1 minute read

Sperm mix-up case dismissed

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

A woman who sued a US sperm bank after she gave birth to a mixed-race child has had her claim rejected by an Illinois court, reports the Chicago Tribune...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Suffolk bows to public pressure to keep IVF funding

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
13 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Drop in diversity of blood stem cells leads to old-age health issues

6 July 2022 • 1 minute read

Frozen embryo transfers linked to high blood pressure in pregnancy

5 July 2022 • 1 minute read

Anorexia in pregnancy linked to increased risk of complications

5 July 2022 • 2 minutes read

Pregnancy after breast cancer treatment does not increase risk of recurrence

5 July 2022 • 1 minute read

No difference between fresh and frozen sperm for IUI

4 July 2022 • 2 minutes read

Shorter IVF protocol reduces risk of OHSS

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856