GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Malfunctions at fertility clinics in Cleveland and San Francisco have some people wondering could the same thing could happen in West Michigan.
The unconnected incidents happened within the last couple of weeks. Thousands of eggs and embryos may have been damaged when liquid nitrogen levels in freezers dropped too low.
For some families, a fertility clinic is the last chance at having a child. If the eggs or embryos are destroyed, it may be too late to try again.
“It’s one of the worst things that could happen,” Kim Hunt, a embryologist who has worked at The Fertility Center in metro Grand Rapids for nearly 20 years, told 24 Hour News 8 Monday. “It’s one of my worst nightmares.”
“They’re babies and I want to take care of them. I want to make sure they’re safe,” she continued.
Hunt said that anything is possible, but she believe there are enough measures in place to make her confident that her clinic is well protected against a liquid nitrogen malfunction.
“The biggest one is a wireless alarm system,” Hunt said.
That alarm is connected to a thermometer is inside the liquid nitrogen tank that holds patients’ frozen eggs and embryos. When the liquid nitrogen temperature rises above negative 150 degrees, the alarm sounds and the employees are notified through a phone call or email.
“The embryos are frozen in just a small amount of liquid so any variation in temperature above that, they are going to thaw out a little bit and that can affect the DNA, the genes and the cells,” Hunt said.
FULL STORY: WOOD TV