An Alabama hospital announced it will stop offering in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment at the end of this year, citing “litigation concerns” surrounding the treatment.
Mobile Infirmary said in a news release Wednesday that it “will no longer be able to provide” IVF services. The ruling follows an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that says those who destroy frozen embryos can be held liable for wrongful death.
“The mobile clinic has temporarily resumed in-hospital IVF treatment to assist families in Alabama and along the Gulf Coast who have begun IVF treatment to start a family,” the hospital said. Said. “However, in light of litigation concerns surrounding IVF therapy, mobile clinics will no longer be able to provide this service to families after December 31, 2024.”
The state Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos are children under state law and may be subject to the wrongful death of minors law. The majority decision follows a lawsuit filed in December 2020 by a group of IVF patients whose frozen embryos were destroyed when the patient removed them from a cryogenic storage unit and dropped them on the floor. .
The mobile clinic was at the center of two lawsuits from 2020 and an additional lawsuit after the court’s ruling in February.
Following the court’s ruling, the three hospitals stopped We will begin IVF treatment the following week.
Some clinics have reopened after the state’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed new protections for health care providers and patients last month.
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