Monash IVF settles landmark class action for $56 million
More than 700 women have settled a major class action lawsuit against fertility service Monash IVF, with the company set to pay out more than 50 million dollars in compensation. The women claimed their hopes of having babies may have been taken away, because healthy embryos were wrongly destroyed.
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00:00Five years ago, Danielle Bopping wanted to grow her own family.
00:06She turned to IVF, but says her dreams for a child were dashed.
00:11We don't choose to do IVF unless we have to.
00:15And we have no choice but to trust the medical professionals.
00:18Miss Bopping gave her last remaining embryo to Monash IVF for testing, but the results
00:24showed the embryo wasn't viable.
00:26It later emerged the company's new, non-invasive testing method was inaccurate, and a decision
00:32to discard the embryo may have been a tragic mistake.
00:36I was angry, I was hurt, I was confused.
00:39I just kept questioning, like, how could this happen?
00:42Miss Bopping wasn't the only one, and more than 700 women from around the country took
00:47the company to court.
00:49Today, it agreed to a $56 million settlement.
00:53This has had real, lasting, devastating impacts on people's mental health.
00:59The women also alleged Monash IVF destroyed embryos without consent, that signatures had
01:05been forged, and that one scientist burned documents.
01:09It is not OK in the name of scientific innovation to use clients, paying clients and patients
01:16as guinea pigs.
01:18As part of its settlement, Monash IVF has made no admissions of liability.
01:23In a statement it said,
01:24We acknowledge this case has been challenging for many people, and we regret any distress
01:29or hurt that may have been experienced.
01:32The company has stopped using the embryo testing method at the centre of the case.
01:36The next step is for the Supreme Court to approve the settlement, and that could be
01:40a complicated process given the amount of money and people involved, and deductions
01:45will also need to be made for legal fees.
01:48There is a sense of closure, although it can never take away the pain and the trauma that
01:55so many of us have felt, but that hopefully it allows us to move forward.