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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media. I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.

A mix up at an IVF clinic has led to a woman giving birth to a stranger’s baby…

It’s the kind of horror story that’s hard to imagine when you leaf through the pink-branded marketing material of Australia’s major fertility clinics.

But this mistake — at one of the oldest and most reputable clinics in the country — has had devastating consequences that reach far beyond the affected families… and with implications for every person relying on fertility treatment in Australia.

Today, writer and public health campaigner Hannah Bambra on how Monash IVF has handled its monumental mistake — and why the IVF industry is so vulnerable to human error.

It’s Wednesday June 25.

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RUBY:

So Hannah, you've been looking into some pretty catastrophic errors that have been happening at IVF Clinics in Australia. And some of these stories, I think, are pretty terrifying and almost unbelievable. Tell me about what's been coming to light.

HANNAH:

Earlier this month there was a couple at Monash IVF in Clayton who were told that they received the wrong embryo. That was a queer couple and she received her own embryo instead of her partner's embryo which wasn't on their plan. And this has been referred to as an incredibly rare human error but it comes only two months after. An announcement that at Monash IVF's Brisbane Clinic, someone gave birth to a stranger's child.

RUBY:

Which I imagine would have been a pretty shocking thing to discover.

HANNAH:

It's incredibly shocking.

Audio excerpt – 7News Reporter:

“There are urgent calls for tighter industry regulation tonight as new details emerge into what went wrong in the Monash IVF bungle.”

Audio excerpt – 7News Reporter:

“The two women were patients at Monash IVF. Woman A had a number of embryos successfully frozen. Months later, when there was one less than she was initially told, doctors said they must have counted wrong, but really one had been transferred into woman B who became pregnant.”

HANNAH:

Those people will be assumed to be the parents of that child, but they have no genetic links to that child and that child is now nearly two years old. So it's taken a long time for that to come to light and that would be a really confusing thing for the birth parents, for the child themselves and for the couple or individual whose embryo was used and I can't help but think. What if that was your last embryo that was given to a stranger?

RUBY:

And so when these stories of embryo mix ups came to light, what has the response been from Monash IVF?

HANNAH:

So Monash IVF have apologised and earlier this month, their CEO stepped down.

Audio excerpt – ABC Reporter:

“In a statement to the ASX on Thursday morning, Monash IVF announced its chief, Michael Knaap, was out. Two days after the company revealed it had incorrectly transferred the wrong embryo to a patient in Melbourne.”

HANNAH:

They've launched internal investigations and their clinical director has said that whenever there's humans in a system, there's going to be the potential for human error, but it's incredibly rare for that to happen. And I think the fact that there's now been two announcements in two months, is really scary for people.

RUBY:

And having embryos mixed up in this way. I mean, this is on the higher end of things that can go wrong when you're talking about IVF, but people who have been to these providers have talked about other smaller but still very painful things that have happened to them as they've gone through that process. Can you tell me about some of the stories that you've heard?

HANNAH:

So as you say, receiving the wrong embryo is probably the most catastrophic mistake that could happen in a clinic but it seems like these instances have been a platform for people to start sharing other really scary things that have happened to them in clinics as well. So there's one woman who I spoke to who had been to another major clinic based in Melbourne and she went through a round of IVF. She was able to extract three eggs during that process. And she would have already been feeling really vulnerable at that point because you do get given statistics like one in four eggs is likely to survive thawing. But in this instance, all three eggs survived thawing. So it looked like it was going well and then they just had to wait and see how many of those eggs turned into embryos because she was going through the process with her partner.

One day she received a call to say that two of those eggs had turned into embryos and then the next day she received another call saying actually sorry we were wrong none of them have survived. And then they received another call later that day saying, actually that was an admin error, two of them did survive. So as you can imagine, there's a huge amount of grief that can come up in those kinds of mistakes. And a lot of people say that they feel like they've failed as well. And then for that to just have been an admin era. Really isn't good enough. You know, they're not treated with the bedside manner that they should receive when they're going through such a delicate and personal process.

RUBY:

Yeah. And there's obviously a huge impact of something like this on the people who are actually going through it, people like Stacey, but what message do you think it sends to others who might be considering IVF and are now seeing these mistakes play out?

HANNAH:

Yeah so people considering going through VF now or about to go through the process obviously are seeing a real lack of public trust in IVF. And it's often something that they might have been saving for for a really long time. So I think people are really vulnerable by the time they get to this stage of considering IVF. Some people consider it to be their last hope, and other people have thought about it for a long time, so I think seeing these kind of mistakes happen is putting extra stress on people who are already vulnerable and already trying to trust.

RUBY:

Coming up after the break - how Hannah’s own IVF journey showed her what’s wrong with the industry.

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RUBY:

Hannah, this is a personal story for you as well. Could you talk to me about your IVF journey?

HANNAH:

Yeah, so two years ago I found myself single and in my 30s and I received a diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome and I decided to freeze my egg. And for me, that was a really empowering decision, taking a bit of control of my fertility. And Monash IVF have been in the game for a really long time. They actually were part of Monash University and achieved the world's first IVF pregnancy in the last century. So their reputation really appealed to me. I thought if I'm going with the people who essentially invented IVF or were part of those early days, then I'm gonna be in good hands. But... When I actually started to engage with the clinic, I was really surprised by how old fashioned their approach was. I got a lot of questions about being single, which I was surprised about because I thought a lot of people would be going through this process, especially the initial egg freezing process by themselves or with a friend. And, you know, there's quite stigmatising language that can be used for people. If you are single or queer, you are still considered socially infertile in Australia. It's kind of riddled with assumptions about why you might be going through this process and almost treating it like a lifestyle choice.

RUBY:

Yeah, it sounds like there are still very much inequities baked into the system.

HANNAH:

I think so. Every form that I was given as a single person had a place for a partner to sign, which I think is really insensitive at the least. And it also really assumes that everyone going through IVF or using art is a heterosexual couple, which just isn't true. Nearly 6% of children in Australia are born to IVF now. So there's a huge range of people who need to use assisted reproductive technologies. Only recently was there some changes to the Medicare rebates. So previously, you had to prove that you were medically infertile rather than socially infertile to be able to get any kind of Medicare rebate. And just of... As of late last year, they've changed that so you can get small rebates if you're a single person or if you are in a same sex female couple, which is quite outdated language as well. And to be honest, the Medicare rebates don't really touch the edges of how much these processes cost.

RUBY:

And just to come back to the way that these companies operate, it seems like some of these mistakes are really only coming to light by chance. And sometimes a long time after they've actually happened. So do you think that there is an issue here in terms of oversight and transparency?

HANNAH:

I think that's what's coming through in these stories. And I spoke to an embryologist, Lucy Lyons, who said that people in labs are really overworked and really tired. And the increasing corporatization of the IVF sector, which now brings in more than $810 million a year, means that people aren't taking breaks. People aren't in labs that are adequately staffed. So even though the people on the front lines might really care about what they're doing, there isn't that oversight or transparency baked into the process, as you said. A lot of these clinics are looking at how they can improve their bottom line, how they can get new people into the system, how they continue to return profits to shareholders. But I don't think there's enough focus on people who are coming through and how personal this process is. There's nothing. More personal in a way than trying to start a family.

RUBY:

Are there particular things that you, as someone who's gone through this process would say that need to be changed that would have made it better for you?

HANNAH:

Yeah, so I spoke to another woman as well who said that she was left with a lot of unchecked grief and that a lot people who go through this process don't have their expectations managed adequately. And I think a lot it comes down to the way that things are communicated. So even ensuring that everyone who speaks to consumers has a background in trauma-informed care would be a start, making counselling mandatory for people and helping them book those sessions would be really helpful, I think. So sometimes you might go from a phlebotomist taking your blood to a nurse who is going to tell you about the next step in your cycle to an ultrasound technician who is about to deliver an ultrasound for you and you need to repeat facts to everyone again and again and they might all give you different information which can be quite confusing.

Consent isn't talked about enough either and even in my experience when I went to and internal ultrasound. There was an example where someone said, oh, this student's going to do your internal ultrasound today. Isn't that great? It's the first time they've ever done an internal ultrasound. And there wasn't much thought around whether I actually consented to that process. An internal ultrasound is very personal and very invasive. And if someone is inserting something inside you, there needs to be a conversation about that. And I think that's really common across the board that there isn't training around how to ensure that someone feels safe and someone feels in control of their own body and their own fertility because that is essentially why they are seeking out IVF in the first place.

RUBY:

Well Hannah, thank you for your time and for your reporting.

HANNAH:

Thank you, Ruby.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

US President Donald Trump says a full ceasefire is now in effect between Iran and Israel – although there are still questions as to whether both parties have officially confirmed the agreement.

Making the announcement on social media, President Trump said a phased 24-hour process would begin on Tuesday - with Iran unilaterally halting all operations, and Israel following suit 12 hours later.

And

After 9 weeks, the triple-murder trial of accused killer Erin Patterson is expected to wrap up in the coming days.

The jury is considering whether Ms Patterson knew she was feeding family members poisonous death cap mushrooms – that left three dead and one critically ill.

Ms Patterson denies knowing the mushrooms were poisonous and claims it was a terrible accident.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See you tomorrow.

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