Judge Unseals 41 Settlements in Fertility Scandal

Women and couples who sued the University of California over alleged misuse of eggs by three former UC Irvine fertility doctors have agreed to cash settlements ranging from $5,000 to $500,000, according to court documents made public Friday.

The 41 settlements, approved by Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas, total about $6 million. Thomas unsealed the settlements after the state Supreme Court agreed with his earlier ruling that they must be made public.

Thomas initially delayed unsealing the records to allow attorneys time to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, no such appeal was filed.

The settlements, which average about $150,000, are part of the $14 million that UC regents have so far agreed to pay in the scandal.

Court records released Friday do not detail specific complaints, but they grew out of allegations that the three UC Irvine doctors--Ricardo H. Asch, Jose P. Balmaceda and Sergio C. Stone--stole eggs harvested from women undergoing fertility treatments at four Southern California medical facilities from the late 1980s through the early 1990s. The fertilized eggs then allegedly were implanted in other women or shipped to medical research laboratories.

“It helps to be acknowledged and to win something, and it also helps that they will be monitoring this field of medicine more closely so other woman don’t have to go through what we did,” said one of the plaintiffs, Kathleen Linden of Santa Ana, who agreed to a $250,000 settlement.

Linden’s lawsuit alleged that five of her eggs were misappropriated, but it was never determined by investigators if any led to a birth.

“I was able to have a child afterward so I am not as bitter as the other women,” Linden said. “[But] what I’m really looking for is for those [doctors] to wind up in jail.”

Of 102 lawsuits initially filed, two were settled earlier and one was dismissed. The records opened Friday bring to 43 the number of resolved cases; about 20 are still pending; the remainder are in the process of being settled, Blum said.

The first two cases against UC Irvine, settled last year for $600,000 and $510,000, helped set the damage amounts for the later settlements, Blum said.

The settlements follow a 10-step ranking of each couple’s injury or grievance. The highest ranking involved women who never conceived a child but whose eggs were implanted in another woman who later bore a child. The second-highest category involved a woman whose eggs were given to another, but both she and the recipient had babies.

Other categories involved women whose eggs were used to impregnate a patient who received eggs from several donors, blurring the baby’s lineage.

The lowest categories involved women whose eggs were given to a recipient who either did not conceive or who miscarried.

John and Deborah Challender of Corona, among the most high-profile of the plaintiffs, whose story led to the 1996 docudrama “For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal,” agreed to a $450,000 settlement. Eggs taken from Deborah resulted in the birth of twins.

“It doesn’t close the book until Dr. Asch is held accountable for what he did,” said John Challender, who with his wife filed one of the first lawsuits. “No dollar amount in the settlement will negate what happened. Until Dr. Asch faces the victims, then there is no justice.” After a pause, he added: “I don’t even know if that would resolve anything.”

Asch, Balmaceda and Stone have been indicted on mail fraud and insurance fraud charges. Asch is in Mexico and Balmaceda is in Chile. No extradition proceedings are underway. Stone goes on trial Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court. Each has denied intentional wrongdoing.