Medical Negligence Lawyer Demands Action After IVF Regulator Admits Mistakes Have More Than Tripled In Three Years
13/08/2011
A leading medical negligence lawyer has questioned whether the IVF industry is learning lessons from their mistakes, after statistics from the industry regulator, the Human Embryo and Fertilisation Authority (HFEA), revealed that the number of IVF errors has more than trebled in just three years.
The HFEA figures, obtained following a Freedom of Information request by Irwin Mitchell, revealed that the number of incidents involving IVF samples has risen year on year, with 564 incidents reported during 2010, through to March 2011. These mistakes often include the devastating loss of patients’ embryos and sperm in storage as well as errors made during laboratory processes.
Guy Forster, a medical negligence solicitor with Irwin Mitchell, who specialises in cases involving IVF incidents, says the true picture may be even more shocking. He believes that the way the industry watchdog decides to grade the severity of incidents could lead to inconsistency or lack of effectiveness in the way it responds to them, with offending clinics often escaping inspection or any sanctions by the regulator.
Commenting on the latest IVF incident figures, he said: “Since 2008 incidents as a whole have more than trebled. Although it should be recognised that 564 incidents represents a small proportion of the 50,000 IVF cycles carried out in the UK each year, when things do go wrong, it causes the most unimaginable heartache for those involved and it is vital that both the clinic in question and the IVF industry as a whole learn lessons for the future. The HFEA is in the unique position of being able to share these lessons with other UK clinics but, in the last 2 years, has only issued 3 alerts.
“When patients choose to undergo IVF treatment they have the right to know if their clinic has a poor record of incidents, in the same way that clinics are keen to promote their success rates. At the same time they deserve to know that the HFEA will act to uphold patient safety standards across the industry.
“Sadly, the HFEA which as the official regulator exists both to police the industry and ensure best practice, is not transparent in the way it reports incidents. Since 2003, the regulator has in effect moved the goalposts by changing the way it categorises the seriousness of errors.
“Whilst the data reveals that the number of incidents overall has trebled, according to the HFEA the number of most serious ‘grade A’ incidents has dramatically fallen from 91 in 2006 to just 1 in 2010/1. This not only calls into question whether incidents are being routinely downgraded, but also means that the inspections, which would automatically have been triggered by a grade A incident, are no longer taking place.
“The HFEA’s figures may indicate that Grade A incidents have fallen but, when added together with Grade B incidents, the two most serious categories have in fact more than quadrupled over the past 3 years. However you look at it, the statistics are deeply concerning.”
Mr Forster has successfully represented a number of couples who have suffered the unimaginable heartache of their IVF treatment failing because of avoidable clinical negligence. They include Deborah and Paul Hole, from Bridgend in South Wales, whose last remaining embryo was wrongly implanted into another patient.
When the blunder, which happened in December 2007, was discovered, the patient took the decision to take the morning-after pill. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, who are responsible for IVF Wales, admitted liability for gross failures in care resulting from the incident and, in June 2009, paid out an undisclosed five figure sum in compensation to the couple.
Mr Forster continued: “Following the highly critical Hampton Review Report published in 2009, the HFEA promised to act quicker and more effectively to regulate the industry, yet the number of adverse incidents continues to increase year on year at an alarming rate. As a solicitor, the incidents that I continue to see appear to flow from the same old problems of inadequate systems compounded by human error.
“These types of mistakes cause unimaginable heartache and anguish to couples longing for a baby. The public should have full confidence that any errors which occur are properly acted upon and, most importantly, that clinics learn from their mistakes.
“Following the Government’s announcement that it intends to abolish quangos such as the HFEA, the responsibility for regulating the fertility sector will pass to the Care Quality Commission. When the time comes, we hope the CQC will seize the opportunity to improve the way in which the HFEA has been regulating the sector.”
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