Hospital gives women wrong sperm during fertility treatment

IVF baby

Twenty-six women may have been given the wrong sperm during fertility treatment, the University Hospital in the Dutch city of Utrecht said on Wednesday.

“The hospital’s laboratory had made a ‘procedural error’ and the hospital would now check whether any of the women had become pregnant from sperm from the wrong man. The risk is small,’’ it said.

It said that half of the women have become pregnant or have given birth.

However, the laboratory error also affected frozen embryos. The University Hospital said that the affected couples had been informed.

Report says sperm cells are injected into eggs in the laboratory, using the technique known as in vitro fertilisation, IVF.

It said that from April 2015 until November 2016, the laboratory had used an incorrect instrument “in which it is possible that traces remained of the sperm cells of another man.’’ (dpa/NAN)