Monash IVF has mistakenly transferred the wrong embryo into a patient in the second major incident for the company in about two months.
On June 5 the Clayton fertility clinic, in Melbourne’s south-east, accidentally put a patient’s own embryo into a patient rather than an embryo from their partner as planned.
“Monash IVF has extended its sincere apologies to the affected couple, and we continue to support them,” the company said in a statement on the ASX on Tuesday.
The company said it is conducting an internal investigation into the incident as it comes just months after it admitted one of its patients had given birth to a stranger’s child in a shocking embryo mix-up that made headlines across the country in April.
“Commencing immediately, Monash IVF will implement interim additional verification processes and patient confirmation safeguards over and above normal practice and electronic witness systems, to ensure patients and clinicians have every confidence in its processes,” Monash IVF said.
“Whilst industry leading electronic witness systems have and are being rolled out across Monash IVF, there remains instances and circumstances whereby manual witnessing is required.
“Monash IVF has disclosed the incident to the relevant assisted reproductive technology (ART) regulators, namely the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee certifying body and Victorian Health Regulator.”
The company’s share price has sunk more than 21 per cent, down to 59 cents, on Tuesday morning after revealing the news.
The incident reported in April had happened at its Brisbane facility in 2023.
Monash IVF blamed “human error” as the reason behind the mixing up of embryos.
“Instead of finding the expected number of embryos, an additional embryo remained in storage for the birth parents,” a Monash IVF spokesperson said.
“(An) investigation confirmed that an embryo from a different patient had previously been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents, which resulted in the birth of a child.”
It was not until February, months after the mother gave birth, when Monash realised the mistake.
Monash IVF chief Michael Knapp at the time said he was “truly sorry” for what had happened and that he was “confident that this is an isolated incident”.
A Victoria government spokesperson said it had requested Monash IVF explain what happened in Brisbane to reassure families following the incident.
SkyNews.com.au has contacted Victoria Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas for comment
