Medically Frozen Sperm Samples Thawed and Destroyed

Medically frozen sperm samples were thawed and destroyed at urology facilities operated by Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation, according to two lawsuits filed this week by the law firm of Wise Law Offices LLC. The two lawsuits were filed in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of plaintiffs whose stored sperm had been thawed between April and June 2012 without their knowledge or consent. Harris, age 25, was diagnosed in 2011 with synovial sarcoma, a soft tissue cancer, after a simple fall left him with significant and unrelenting hip and thigh pain. Following biopsy and diagnosis, Harris' physicians recommended that he preserve sperm before he began his intensive cancer treatment regimen, which has included both chemotherapy and radiation, which Harris did. That sperm was erroneously destroyed and the destruction is the basis of his suit. Harris is still undergoing chemotherapy. A second and similar lawsuit was brought by attorney on behalf of unidentified plaintiff "Jeffrey Doe," whose sperm samples had been entrusted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation for cryopreservation since 2008, but were also erroneously thawed and destroyed. Both complaints allege that the defendants were negligent in failing to provide a reasonably safe cryogenic storage facility, failing to have adequate alarms in place for the safekeeping of sperm samples and allowing the plaintiffs' sperm samples to thaw between April and June 2012. After this period each of the plaintiffs was informed by letter that the destruction had occurred, depriving each plaintiff of the ability to biologically conceive a child. Press reports have indicated that hundreds of other individuals were contacted by defendant Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation to inform them of similar destruction.