According to the hospital and a Health Ministry committee, the four couples who underwent treatment at Assuta Rishon Letzion Medical Center may be genetically connected to the infant
As per court order Now The Assuta Medical Center will have to test matches with other couples who have undergone fertility treatments in the in vitro fertilization unit as the mother-to-be is expected to give birth soon, and she and her spouse demand to raise the child as their own.
The genetic testing going to conduct on four couples who underwent fertility treatment at Assuta Medical Center to determine whether they are related to a baby born to a woman who also underwent treatment there and is not the girl’s genetic mother.
A couple who were claimed to have genetic ties to the fetus implanted in the body of another woman – are not its biological parents, a genetic test has shown. The Lod District Court provided the results of the genetics test to the couple on Monday, with the woman carrying the fetus not contesting the ruling.
The couple whose connection to the fetus has now been ruled out were marked as the most likely to be genetically connected to the fetus. Assuta has not revealed the information that led to this couple, out of the dozens receiving fertility treatments at the same time. Nor has the hospital revealed its process of investigating the incident.
Attorneys Galit Kerner and Assaf Sharaf, representing the pregnant woman and her partner, said in response: “This is a day of great excitement for us. It turns out that we were right from the start. The fiasco at Assuta is exceptional. We call on the Health Minister to establish a national commission of inquiry to look into the failures at Assuta, and we ask all involved to allow the pregnant mother to give birth to the baby in peace.”
The couple whose connection to the fetus has been ruled out said in response to the test results: “We are processing the new information, feel relieved and look forward to resuming our normal lives. We wish for good health for the fetus and mother, and hope that any uncertainties will be clarified for other patients.”
Assuta Medical Center said in response that “a team of senior experts will convene in the coming hours to act on behalf of the public interest in full transparency and coordination with the Health Ministry.”
Last week the court rejected an appeal by the pregnant woman, ruling the genetic material taken from the fetus can be used to immediately ascertain the identity of the biological parents. The request was filed by Assuta Medical Center in Rishon Letzion, where the fetus was returned to the body of the woman who is not its genetic mother. The genetic material was obtained through amniocentesis – the withdrawal of amniotic fluid. Under law, possession of the genetic material belongs to the woman in whose body the test was performed, and any transfer of such material to test for genetic ties is allowed only under court order.
The ruling by judges Zvi Weizman, Dr. Avi Gurman and Zvia Gradstein Papkin stated that “serious arguments were presented in favor of performing the [genetic] test as soon as possible. There is the interest of the fetus in discovering its genetic parents, both for physical-medical reasons, and reasons for desiring to know one’s natural origins. There is also the legitimate interests [of the potential parents] to find out whether, as Assuta and the Health Ministry claim, they are the fetus’s genetic parents, and if so – to choose how to act and do so expeditiously.”
News Resource – haaretz.com, October 24, 2022
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