Utrecht IVF clinic shutdown puts 150 couples on waiting lists

Another 66 couples can not start their fertility treatment at UMC Utrecht's IVF laboratory after it was shut down due to a mix up with ICSI treatment, which resulted in 26 women maybe being fertilized with the wrong sperm. On top of the 84 couples who previously reported their fertility treatments being delayed, there are now a total of 150 women on the waiting list, NU.nl reports.

This involves patients of UMC Utrecht, but also those of four nearby hospitals and clinics that use the UMC Utrecht IVF lab for fertility treatments. Women who already started their hormone treatments are the only ones currently being helped. Everyone else will have to wait until the lab reopens. A spokesperson for UMC could not tell NU who will be given priority when the lab reopens. It will take at least five weeks before treatments can start up again, according to the hospital.

Late last year it became known that due to the wrong equipment used in ICSI treatments, it is possible that the eggs of 26 women were fertilized with the sperm of the wrong man. UMC stated that the chances are slim, but not impossible. 13 of the 26 women already had their children or are currently pregnant. The other half's eggs have not been replanted yet. The treatments were immediately stopped for investigation.

"We think it's awful that this happened and really sympathize with the involved couples", the St Antonius Hospital, whose patients received fertility treatment at UMC Utrect's IVF lab, wrote in response, according to the newspaper. "They were informed by UMC Utrecht and we stand ready to help them as much as possible wherever possible."