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HOUSTON CHRONICLE ARCHIVES Paper:
Houston Chronicle A Harris County lawsuit may require a judge of King Solomon's wisdom with the knowledge of modern genetics to resolve who is entitled to four remaining frozen human embryos. The egg donor from Texas known only as Elizabeth is suing an out-of-state couple referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Doe and a Houston couple for disbursing her eggs in an attempt to conceive children. Elizabeth is requesting a court judgment that her eggs not be used, sold, implanted or brought to term without her written consent. The donor claims in her lawsuit filed Thursday that she was never informed that her eggs would be given to any other person besides the Doe couple. But Novella Rhodes-McBride and Howard McBride of Houston, who have their own pending lawsuit against the donor, doctor and clinic involved, said they were told last June that everyone had given consent for them to use the eggs, including the egg donor. "I just want my children," Rhodes-McBride said Friday. Rhodes-McBride is seeking custody of four frozen embryos fertilized with her husband's sperm and kept in the lab of Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates on Fannin. "I also want the law to change. Reproductive law is in a covered wagon pulled by oxen while reproductive science and technology have landed on the moon," she said. Although Rhodes-McBride became pregnant with twins from the donated eggs fertilized with her husband's sperm, she miscarried last August. When she attempted to repeat the process, she found out the remaining four eggs were no longer available to her, lawyer Nancy Hart of Beaumont said. Hart, who conceived her daughter through a similar process, said the McBride case highlights gaps in Texas law and regulations in guiding the large and profitable fertility industry. The lawyer estimated that the cost per procedure can be more than $10,000 with fertility drugs, egg retrieval and medical treatment of in vitro fertilization and monitoring until the time of conception. The McBrides estimated they have spent more than $100,000 on several procedures through the years, mostly with Rhodes-McBride's biological eggs, but none has been fruitful. Rhodes-McBride filed her lawsuit in April against Elizabeth, Dr. Michael Allon, Obstetrical & Gynecological Associates, and the Options National Fertility Registry, a California-based Internet egg donor site that acted as an "egg broker." The lawsuit alleges that Allon proposed the egg-sharing between the two couples June 13. "Dr. Allon assured Ms. Rhodes-McBride that it was legal and that physicians are actually encouraged to promote egg sharing among patients," the suit states. But after the first fertilization procedure and her subsequent miscarriage in August, Allon informed the couple that he would not implant any of the remaining embryos because they "did not have the egg donor's permission to use the donor's eggs," the lawsuit claims. Allon's lawyer, Joe House, said the doctor did think there was permission from the egg donor, following a law on such donations under the Uniform Parentage Act. "Once you donate those eggs, you have no rights to those eggs or to the child of those eggs," House said. After being told they did not have the donor's permission to share the eggs, the McBrides said, they then attempted to contact Elizabeth through Options National Fertility Registry to obtain her permission. The fertility registry's lawyer asked them to sign a form releasing the donor from liability for any resulting children. The fertility registry could not be reached for comment. Failing to convince Elizabeth to allow them to claim the eggs, the McBrides filed the lawsuit seeking custody of the remaining four embryos. "The frozen embryos are children in waiting and thus, their fate should be determined by what is in the best interest of the embryos," the McBrides' lawsuit states. "As Mr. McBride is the genetic father of the embryos, it is in the best interest of the embryos that they be brought to term by their intended gestational mother, Ms. Rhodes-McBride," it states. Elizabeth filed a third-party lawsuit Thursday against the Does and others involved. She stated that she agreed to donate her eggs only to the Does through the California Internet site. "The contract stated that the eggs were not to be given to any other person besides the Doe couple," states Elizabeth's lawsuit, filed by Houston lawyer Jimmy Williamson . "At no time did Dr. Allon inform `Elizabeth' about the egg sharing agreement. At no time did Dr. Allon ask for `Elizabeth's' permission or consent to share her eggs with the McBrides," the suit states. Besides seeking control of the eggs, Elizabeth requested that her name and address and other information remain confidential. Although Elizabeth was reimbursed for her eggs originally - a donor can receive $3 ,000 or more for one cycle of eggs - Williamson said money was not her main motivation. "You have to be of the moral persuasion that you are helping people," he said. But he said Elizabethis entitled to and will be seeking unspecified monetary damages. |