Manhattan Cryobank Screening for Genetic Diseases Class Action

What kind of guarantees does a customer of a sperm bank want? The complaint alleges that CNTP MCB, Inc. (MCB, formerly known as Manhattan Cryobank, Inc.) “sold sperm to the public which it knew could contain genetic diseases.” The complaint claims that even MCB’s chairman knew that testing was inadequate.

The class for this action is all persons who bought sperm from Manhattan Cryobank, Inc. after November 1, 2014 but before June 5, 2018 that was donated to Manhattan Cryobank prior to November 1, 2014.

This is a new filing of an earlier case that was previously voluntarily dismissed, for an arbitration that never took place.

The two plaintiffs in this case, Andrea Frankiewicz and Ruth Perez, were inseminated with sperm from MCB’s Donor 184. Donor 184 was subsequently found to be a carrier of the alpha thalassemia trait.

On its website, MCB claims to be a “leading sperm bank with a large and diverse selection of rigorously screened sperm donors.” It sells sperm collected between around 2007 and the present.

Screening for genetic diseases is important to those seeking sperm. The complaint quotes one article as saying, “The opportunity to minimize a future child’s risk of disease, and the value placed on it by the reproductive marketplace, is reflected in the marketing claims of commercial sperm banks, which emphasize the rigor of donor screening protocols. In addition to a three-generation family history analysis (a protocol whose primary utility is the surfacing of risk for dominant and X-linked conditions), all sperm banks perform some degree of carrier screening in their applicant selection process… Donor applicants who test positive for a disease-associated mutation are typically disqualified.”

In its Agreement for Purchase of Donor Sperm, MCB claimed to have “performed a complete and thorough screening of the donor(s)” for things like inheritable birth defects or inheritable serious illnesses.

The complaint alleges, “Prior to November 1, 2014, MCB only screened donors for genetic diseases by way of a complete blood count (‘CBC’) and other self-reporting questionnaires. This protocol was ineffective in detecting all genetic diseases for which MCB agreed it would screen and warranted it found on evidence of.”

In 2014, LPG bought MCB and changed the testing to a methodology called NGS, which combines a number of modern sequencing technologies. The list of genetic diseases it now tests for is much longer than the earlier, pre-2014 list.

However, the complaint says, “MCB made the conscious decision not to screen the sperm in its inventory donated prior to November 1, 2014.” It continued to offer the earlier sperm for sale to the public without further screening until June 2018, when it merged with another company. It therefore continued to offer insufficiently screened sperm to the public for about another three years. It did not warn consumers about this.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: medical
Tags: Genetic Screening, Sperm Bank, medical