Assuta embryo case: Two couples potentially genetic parents of baby

• Published date: 23 March 2023
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The committee was authorized to examine the circumstances that caused the error during the IVF procedure at Assuta. The inspection committee met more than twenty times and examined dozens of medical files of patients in the IVF unit at this institution. At the end of the process, the committee voted on two couples as having a high chance of being the baby's genetic parents

The committee's assessment found that the mix-up of the embryos was done at the time of the return between a patient who was supposed to enter the treatment room first and the woman who gave birth to Sofia, who actually entered the room first.

Source of error in Rishon LeZion IVF case

According to the committee, the source of the error occurred in the early preparation of the fertilized eggs, contrary to protocol. Later, a defect in the identification of the patient who was waiting in the recovery room apparently led to a mistake.

As to the second couple who had a high chance of being the genetic parents - since this patient underwent the implantation procedure at the same time as the implantations performed for the mother and the first patient and since the documentation of the schedule on the day of implantations was completely disorganized, the possibility that the mistake in the implantation of the embryos involves her as well cannot be ruled out.

The committee ranked this patient's chance of being the genetic mother as lower than that of the first patient, mainly due to the fact that this...