One of Australia's biggest fertility services has been accused of using patient embryos for scientific purposes without their consent in new court documents detailing a raft of explosive allegations. The claims against Monash I-V-F Group are part of a multi-million dollar class action, which now has hundreds of claim members, including a Melbourne woman who says she's heart-broken at losing the chance to expand her family.
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00:00 Kirsty Jones handed the hope of having a second child to Monash IVF after being sold on a
00:07 new non-invasive genetic test to determine which embryos were best for implantation.
00:12 This test was sold to me as the gold standard.
00:15 But it was allegedly not as accurate as initially promised, informing Kirstie two of her three
00:20 embryos were abnormal when later testing revealed that may have not been the case.
00:25 Extremely distressing to think that actually those embryos could have been normal when
00:31 I'd been given this information that was potentially incorrect.
00:35 Kirstie says she was also led to believe her embryos had been destroyed by the fertility
00:40 service.
00:41 They were in storage, by which time I'd already gone through further rounds of IVF.
00:49 Yesterday fresh accusations were levelled at Monash IVF Group and its subsidiaries as
00:53 part of a class action.
00:55 We continue to uncover further evidence as to the gravity of what occurred.
01:00 The amended statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria alleging,
01:05 Patients embryos which were to be destroyed were used for scientific purposes without
01:09 consent.
01:10 A scientist involved in the clinical study burned paper evidence from the clinical trial
01:14 fearing legal sanctions and suspicions existed over the authenticity of patient signatures
01:20 on consent forms in the clinical trial.
01:23 Since the class action was filed in the Supreme Court in December 2020, the number of claim
01:28 members has ballooned with more than 700 people now seeking compensation.
01:34 What we're seeking on behalf of our clients is pain and suffering damages, economic loss
01:39 and also punitive damages.
01:41 Just as important as the outcome of this case in terms of compensation is also the pursuit
01:48 of truth.
01:49 In a statement Monash IVF says it's preparing a legal defence responding to the further
01:53 claims and is committed to supporting those affected through the legal process.
01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]