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Fertility clinics across the country wait for information about malfunctions at two clinics

Posted at 7:27 PM, Mar 13, 2018
and last updated 2019-03-28 15:57:24-04

Patients from across the country hoping to have a baby travel to a fertility clinic outside of Denver for the chance to grow their family.

Dr. William Schoolcraft started The Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine 30 years ago.  

"Patients that are affected by possibly losing, in the case of an embryo, a potential baby, a generation of a family," said Schoolcraft. 

Here in Northeast Ohio, hopes of having a baby for hundreds of University Hospitals patients is in question after a malfunction at the hospital's fertility clinic earlier this month.

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University Hospitals said there was an unexpected temperature fluctuation with the tissue storage bank where more than 2,000 eggs and embryos were stored. The eggs and embryos are extremely fragile. 

RELATED:Another accreditation agency investigating University Hospitals after fertility clinic malfunction

The clinic that Schoolcraft started three decades ago is consistently ranked among the best in the country. At CCRM, he said, there are backups to the backups.

"There are sensors, alarms, daily inspections of the freezing units," said Schoolcraft.

Fertility doctors across the country are waiting for more information on exactly what happened at not only UH's lab, but also a lab in San Francisco that also suffered a recent malfunction. Schoolcraft believes all clinics are now looking at the safeguards in their facilities. 

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