SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

A second fertility clinic has reported a liquid nitrogen cooling system failure [npr.org]:

A San Francisco fertility clinic says that a problem with the liquid nitrogen in one of its storage tanks may have damaged thousands of frozen eggs and embryos, triggering calls and letters to more than 400 concerned patients of the Pacific Fertility Center.

The nitrogen level in one tank fell very low, according to Dr. Carl Herbert, the fertility clinic's president. Herbert told ABC News [go.com] that an "emergency filling" immediately took place, and that the tank's contents were then transferred to a fully functioning tank.

The problem struck on March 4 — the same day that a similar cryogenic tank failure was reported in Cleveland, where the University Hospital Fertility Clinic is investigating "an unexpected temperature fluctuation" that jeopardized its tissue storage bank, where liquid nitrogen preserves eggs and embryos. That incident reportedly affected some 700 patients.

One failure: accident. Two failures...?

• How cryostorage is supposed to protect embryos like those possibly damaged at 2 fertility clinics [go.com]
• Proposed class action lawsuit filed against UH for egg, embryo freezer malfunction [cleveland.com]

Previously: Freezer Malfunction May Have Damaged Up to 2,000 Frozen Eggs and Embryos [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission