Latest news with #MonashIVF
Time of India
17 minutes ago
- Business
- Time of India
A second Australian IVF mix-up shakes clinic and industry
Bengaluru: One of Australia's top IVF providers mistakenly implanted a patient with her own embryo instead of her partner's in a second fertility clinic mix-up, heightening concerns about an industry that did not have much active government oversight until recently. Monash IVF said the error took place on June 5 at a clinic in Melbourne but did not provide further details such as how it learned of the bungle or what the couple planned to do next. The company said it was supporting the couple, who it did not identify. It said the patient's embryo was mistakenly implanted under a treatment plan which called for an embryo from the patient's partner to be transferred. The incident builds on a reputational maelstrom for Monash IVF, which was already reeling from an April disclosure that an Australian woman had given birth to a stranger's baby after a fertility doctor accidentally implanted the wrong embryo in Brisbane in 2023. That mix-up sparked concerns about security protocols at IVF clinics and an industry which is only now in the process of being more regulated. Monash claimed the world's first IVF pregnancy five decades ago and is Australia's second-largest IVF provider, carrying out nearly a quarter of the country's 100,000 assisted reproductive cycles a year, according to industry data. "This mix-up, the second reported incident at Monash IVF, risks shaking confidence not just in one provider but across the entire fertility sector," Hilary Bowman-Smart, a researcher and bioethicist at the University of South Australia. Shares of Monash IVF were down 25% by midsession on Tuesday, against a rising broader market. The stock is just over half its value before the April announcement. "We had thought the Brisbane clinic embryo transfer error was an isolated incident," Craig Wong-Pan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a client note. "We believe there is now risk of a greater impact of reputational damage and market share losses to MVF's operations." Monash IVF had already hired a lawyer to run an independent investigation after the Brisbane incident, and said on Tuesday it has extended the scope of that investigation. It added that it was installing interim extra verification safeguards to ensure patient confidence. It said it had reported the Melbourne incident to state regulator the Victorian Department of Health and industry licencing body the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC), part of industry group the Fertility Society of Australia. Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the department was investigating the company and the incident. "Families should have confidence that the treatment they are receiving is done to the highest standard," she said. "It is clear Monash IVF has failed to deliver that, which is completely unacceptable." Fertility Society president Petra Wale said the incident would have had an emotional toll on the family but stressed mistakes in the sector were rare. The society reiterated a call to implement nationally consistent laws around IVF. Currently, the country's IVF industry is regulated by a combination of industry bodies and state and territory health departments, resulting in a governance and compliance system that some groups say is too complex. Reports of transferring a wrong embryo are rare, according to fertility experts, and Monash's Brisbane mix-up was widely reported as the first known case of its kind. ($1 = 1.5330 Australian dollars)
The Age
3 hours ago
- Health
- The Age
‘Completely unacceptable': Minister lashes Monash IVF after second embryo transfer bungle
The Melbourne mix-up comes just six weeks after Victoria's Health Regulator renewed the licence of several Monash IVF centres, including its Clayton clinic. Health Minister Health Mary-Anne Thomas slammed Monash IVF and said it was required to fully co-operate with an investigation from the regulator. 'Families should have confidence that the treatment they are receiving is done to the highest standard,' Thomas said. 'It is clear Monash IVF has failed in delivering that – which is completely unacceptable.' Last year, Monash IVF paid $56 million in compensation to settle a class action involving 700 families over a bungled genetic test, which may have cost dozens of families the chance to have children. Loading President of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand Dr Petra Wale moved to reassure the public that Australia's assisted reproductive technology (ART) systems were among the 'safest, most transparent, and tightly regulated in the world'. 'Although the embryo transferred was the patient's own, we acknowledge the emotional toll this has taken and extend our heartfelt sympathies to those involved,' Wale said. 'While these incidents are deeply difficult for those affected, they are exceedingly rare and must be taken seriously, without losing sight of the overwhelming positive contributions made by the sector.' Victoria's 24 licensed ART clinics are required to report all adverse events to Victoria's Health Regulator. But while it details the number of adverse events relating to 'clinical' errors, the regulator does not provide additional details, such as whether incorrect embryos have been transferred. IVF pioneer Professor Gab Kovacs, who was the medical director of Monash IVF before retiring more than a decade ago, said the sheer number of ART procedures taking place made it likely that mix-ups would occur on rare occasions, and it was unlucky that Monash IVF had been involved twice in such a short period. 'It is human error and it will happen again, it's just because Monash IVF is a public company that any adverse incident has to be reported to the exchange, so they become public,' Kovacs said. 'Probably, there are other mix-ups at other clinics that we don't know about. 'It is sad news for everybody, for the patients involved, for the staff who made the mistake, and for the company. Loading 'It is impossible to avoid human error. Unfortunately, while there are humans working things will go wrong.' University of Melbourne Associate Professor Alex Polyakov, who is also the medical director at Genea Fertility Melbourne, said greater transparency was required to limit the chances of errors reoccurring. 'If an incident like this comes into [the] public domain for whatever reason, it would be important for the regulator to provide information to clinics as to the specifics of the incident,' he said. 'We need to know why it happened, how it happened, and how to prevent it from happening in the future. I think that's the role of the regulator.' No.1 Fertility owner and medical director Dr Lynn Burmeister said the latest incident required deeper examination. 'Patients trust that when they are with a clinic, there are watertight procedures in place to protect them,' she said. 'With more than one such incident now identified, it is time for an independent review into how this could have occurred.' Monash IVF's share price began trading on Tuesday at 74 cents, but dropped to 54 cents following disclosure of the Clayton embryo error.
The Independent
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Wrong embryo implanted in second such IVF clinic mix-up
Monash IVF, a top Australian IVF provider, mistakenly implanted a patient with her own embryo instead of her partner's at a Melbourne clinic on June 5. This is the second such mix-up for Monash IVF, following an April disclosure of a similar incident in Brisbane in 2023, raising concerns about industry oversight. The company stated it is supporting the couple involved and has extended an existing independent investigation and is installing extra verification safeguards. Shares of Monash IVF have dropped 25 per cent following the incident, and analysts predict potential reputational damage and market share losses. Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas has deemed the incident "completely unacceptable" and confirmed that the Victorian Department of Health is investigating the company.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Doctor mistakenly implants wrong embryo in IVF patient mix-up
One of Australia's top IVF providers mistakenly implanted a patient with her own embryo instead of her partner's. Monash IVF said the incident occurred on June 5 at a clinic in Melbourne but did not provide further details, such as how it learned of the bungle or what the couple planned to do next. The company said it was supporting the couple, who it did not identify. It marks the second fertility clinic mix-up of its kind in the country, heightening concerns about an industry that did not have much active government oversight until recently. The clinic said the patient's embryo was mistakenly implanted under a treatment plan which called for an embryo from the patient's partner to be transferred. The incident builds on a reputational maelstrom for Monash IVF, which was already reeling from an April disclosure that an Australian woman had given birth to a stranger's baby after a fertility doctor accidentally implanted the wrong embryo in Brisbane in 2023. That mix-up sparked concerns about security protocols at IVF clinics and an industry which is only now in the process of being more regulated. Monash claimed the world's first IVF pregnancy five decades ago and is Australia's second-largest IVF provider, carrying out nearly a quarter of the country's 100,000 assisted reproductive cycles a year, according to industry data. "This mix-up, the second reported incident at Monash IVF, risks shaking confidence not just in one provider but across the entire fertility sector," said Hilary Bowman-Smart, a researcher and bioethicist at the University of South Australia. Shares of Monash IVF were down 25 per cent by mid-session on Tuesday, against a rising broader market. The stock is just over half its value before the April announcement. "We had thought the Brisbane clinic embryo transfer error was an isolated incident," Craig Wong-Pan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a client note. "We believe there is now risk of a greater impact of reputational damage and market share losses to MVF's operations." Monash IVF had already hired a lawyer to run an independent investigation after the Brisbane incident, and said on Tuesday it has extended the scope of that investigation. It added that it was installing interim extra verification safeguards to ensure patient confidence. It said it had reported the Melbourne incident to the Victorian Department of Health and industry licensing body, the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC), part of industry group the Fertility Society of Australia. Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the department was investigating the company and the incident. "Families should have confidence that the treatment they are receiving is done to the highest standard," she said. "It is clear Monash IVF has failed to deliver that, which is completely unacceptable." Fertility Society president Petra Wale said the incident would have had an emotional toll on the family, but stressed mistakes in the sector were rare. The society reiterated a call to implement nationally consistent laws around IVF. Currently, the country's IVF industry is regulated by a combination of industry bodies and state and territory health departments, resulting in a governance and compliance system that some groups say is too complex. Reports of transferring the wrong embryo are rare, according to fertility experts, and Monash's Brisbane mix-up was widely reported as the first known case of its kind.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Doctor mistakenly implants wrong embryo in IVF patient mix-up
One of Australia 's top IVF providers mistakenly implanted a patient with her own embryo instead of her partner's. Monash IVF said the incident occurred on June 5 at a clinic in Melbourne but did not provide further details, such as how it learned of the bungle or what the couple planned to do next. The company said it was supporting the couple, who it did not identify. It marks the second fertility clinic mix-up of its kind in the country, heightening concerns about an industry that did not have much active government oversight until recently. The clinic said the patient's embryo was mistakenly implanted under a treatment plan which called for an embryo from the patient's partner to be transferred. The incident builds on a reputational maelstrom for Monash IVF, which was already reeling from an April disclosure that an Australian woman had given birth to a stranger's baby after a fertility doctor accidentally implanted the wrong embryo in Brisbane in 2023. That mix-up sparked concerns about security protocols at IVF clinics and an industry which is only now in the process of being more regulated. Monash claimed the world's first IVF pregnancy five decades ago and is Australia's second-largest IVF provider, carrying out nearly a quarter of the country's 100,000 assisted reproductive cycles a year, according to industry data. "This mix-up, the second reported incident at Monash IVF, risks shaking confidence not just in one provider but across the entire fertility sector," said Hilary Bowman-Smart, a researcher and bioethicist at the University of South Australia. Shares of Monash IVF were down 25 per cent by mid-session on Tuesday, against a rising broader market. The stock is just over half its value before the April announcement. "We had thought the Brisbane clinic embryo transfer error was an isolated incident," Craig Wong-Pan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a client note. "We believe there is now risk of a greater impact of reputational damage and market share losses to MVF's operations." Monash IVF had already hired a lawyer to run an independent investigation after the Brisbane incident, and said on Tuesday it has extended the scope of that investigation. It added that it was installing interim extra verification safeguards to ensure patient confidence. It said it had reported the Melbourne incident to the Victorian Department of Health and industry licensing body, the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC), part of industry group the Fertility Society of Australia. Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the department was investigating the company and the incident. "Families should have confidence that the treatment they are receiving is done to the highest standard," she said. "It is clear Monash IVF has failed to deliver that, which is completely unacceptable." Fertility Society president Petra Wale said the incident would have had an emotional toll on the family, but stressed mistakes in the sector were rare. The society reiterated a call to implement nationally consistent laws around IVF. Currently, the country's IVF industry is regulated by a combination of industry bodies and state and territory health departments, resulting in a governance and compliance system that some groups say is too complex. Reports of transferring the wrong embryo are rare, according to fertility experts, and Monash's Brisbane mix-up was widely reported as the first known case of its kind.
