Thousands of eggs and embryos may have been destroyed after a hospital fridge malfunctioned.
University Hospitals, in Cleveland, has apologised following the fault at one of its fertility clinics last weekend.
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In a statement it said it did not yet know if any of the 2000 eggs and embryos could still be used.
‘We are investigating a recent incident at our fertility clinic involving an unexpected temperature fluctuation with the tissue storage bank where eggs and embryos are stored in liquid nitrogen,’ it said.
‘At this time, we don’t yet know the viability of these eggs and embryos.’
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UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital president Patti DePompei also apologised via a video on Facebook.
She added: ‘Right now, our patients come first. We are incredibly sorry this happened.
‘We are committed to getting answers and working with patients individually to address their concerns.’
But the fridge malfunction has also thrown up another problem.
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In order to find out if the material is still viable doctors have to thaw it but it cannot then be frozen again.
That means the hospital will have to sit down with more than 700 patients and decide how they want to proceed.
University Hospitals is considering waiving fees for any future procedures for anyone who had eggs or embryos stored, according to WEWS future.
It added there would be an independent investigation into the incident.
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