Over 80 couples affected by Utrecht hospital's IVF blunder

A sperm cell mix up during ICSI treatments at UMC Utrecht extends beyond 26 couples who are now uncertain about the father of their child. According to research by newspaper AD, the mix up also disrupted the family plans of at least 84 couples from Utrecht to Arnhem.

UMC Utrecht stopped treatments at its fertility laboratory immediately after it was discovered that the wrong tool was used in ICSI treatments - sperm from a previous treatment remained behind and my have ended up in the egg sell of the next treatment. This tool was used in a total of 26 treatments between April 2015 and November this year. Half of those women are pregnant or have given birth due to the treatment. The other half's egg cells have been treated, but haven't yet been replaced in their wombs.

But according to the AD, it is not ony these 26 couples who were affected by the mistake. The fertility lab stopping treatments also affected 84 other couples who were about to start fertility treatments. UMC Utrecht itself stopped treatment for 55 couples. But other surrounding hospitals also make use of the fertility center. Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem gave disappointing news to 9 couples, The Meander Medical Center in Amersfoort to 8 couples, the Diakonessen hospital in Utrecht to 7 and the Sint Antonious Hospital in Nieuwegein to five.

All four those medical centers make use of UMC Utrecht's laboratory for artificially fertilizing eggs. This applies to both ICSI, in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg, and IVF, in which eggs and sperm are brought together and the sperm enters the egg itself.