Brain-damaged IVF stroke victim wins negligence case

A WOMAN who was left brain damaged after a series of strokes following her third cycle of IVF was awarded "very substantial" agreed damages yesterday.

An emotive message from the 34-year-old accountant was read out in court by her QC.

In it, the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: "IVF. I was so happy. Looked forward to my newborn baby. Unfortunately miscarried. Baby die. Disaster happen.

"Then stroke. Disaster. Now my face fine but my body will never be the same. My son is torn apart. One year hospital and now wheelchair. Why me? Still bubbly, but inside my body and brain cry, cry, cry."

The woman had succeeded in becoming pregnant after the fertility treatment but developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). She then miscarried after a stroke in August 2000 and had to spend a year in hospital.

She claimed at the High Court in London that she had received negligent care from fertility specialist Paul Rainsbury at the BUPA Roding Hospital, Ilford, Essex.

Mr Rainsbury's QC, John Grace, said liability was strongly at issue both in relation to breach of duty and the amount of damages.

The judge, Mr Justice Nelson, was told that if the case had gone to trial, the woman's factual evidence would have been inconsistent with contemporaneous medical notes.

Her QC, James Badenoch, said that the award - the details of which were not made public - meant that she could retain care of her only son and have some semblance of freedom from the constraints upon her.

Counsel said that the former "career girl" was a "gentle and charming lady", but had great difficulty with speech, mobility, reasoning and decision-making. She could not safely be left alone or get through the day unaided and relied on her devoted family for help. Her marriage, which was unhappy before her strokes, had ended, and she was unlikely to find another partner.

Around 6,000 babies are born each year in the UK following IVF treatment but many women undergo up to four treatment cycles per session in an attempt to become pregnant. There have been individual case reports of blood clotting and stroke complications of severe OHSS and four deaths have been reported in world medical literature.

Potentially fatal OHSS affects around 1 per cent of women, although less severe cases are more common.

Lord Robert Winston, one of the world's leading fertility experts, said last night that he did not think doctors should advise women of the risk of a stroke from IVF treatment because it was an extremely rare occurrence.

"I am aware of such a thing happening perhaps two or even three times," he said. "I don't think there's any point of telling women the risk is there when it is such a small possibility.

"Doctors would have to sit down and go through every single associated risk - it would be like telling someone they could develop blood poisoning from giving a blood sample."

Women contemplating IVF which involves ovarian stimulation are warned before starting treatment that the procedure carries risks comparable with the risks of elective surgery. All women undergoing such treatment experience symptoms such as weight gain and a change in their hormonal balance.

However, while OHSS usually occurs a few days after embryo transfer being provoked by an hormonal injection, the symptoms vary in intensity. Some cases can be treated with bed rest and an intravenous drip.

But, on rare occasions, very serious complications have been associated with OHSS, including abnormal blood clotting which has caused strokes. Blood clots can migrate to the lungs, a complication which can prove fatal. Other severe symptoms can include enlarged ovaries twisting or bruising requiring surgery, and damage to the liver and kidneys.

In 2002 Temilola Akinbolagne from south London died from OHSS - the first such case in the UK. There are believed to have been three other such cases in Britain in the last 30 years.

IVF is considered immoral because it separates the procreative and unitive aspects of the marital act (sex). In Catholic philosophy, the marital act is composed of a procreative aspect (the transmission of the possibility of life) and a unitive aspect (the mutual self-giving of both spouses). IVF inherently lacks the unitive aspect inasmuch as the IVF procedure takes place not within the bodies of the married couple but in an outside, sterile environment. Moreover, IVF as it is practiced in most clinics requires the husband to masturbate in order to obtain a semen sample.

Another argument regarding the morality of IVF is that "extra" embryos--fertilized eggs and, therefore, human beings--are either discarded or indefinitely kept frozen. This amounts to either intentional killing or maintaining a person in a sort of suspended animation. Fortunately, "snowflake adoptions," in which women "adopt" the frozen embryos and then have them implanted in their uterine wall, is growing in popularity. "Snowflake adoption," though does not eliminate the primary problem with IVF mentioned in the first paragraph.

It's against God's natural law. Children are relegated to that as property and not made in the Conjugal act in the sacrament of marriage with God. Excess embryos are created and implanted which are usually miscarried, then the other "children" made in God's image are stored on Ice in a frozen Gulag only to wait to be destroyed or harvested for their body parts in embryonic stem cell research. It's outright barbarous and cannibalism.

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