Manhattan Cryobank Sold Sperm That May Contain Genetic Diseases, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

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A proposed class action out of New York claims Manhattan Cryobank, Inc. (MCB) and several affiliates sold sperm to the public despite knowing it may contain “life threatening and deadly” genetic diseases.

Described on its website as a “leading sperm bank with a large and diverse selection of rigorously selected sperm donors,” MCB, the case says, currently sells sperm donated as early as 2007. According to the lawsuit, however, sperm donated to MCB before November 1, 2014 was tested using inadequate methods. Despite the allegedly below-bar testing, MCB continued to sell pre-2014 sperm to customers even after the tissue bank implemented a more vigorous genetic testing regimen and discovered that some previous donors should not have been accepted, the lawsuit claims.

With regard to sperm donated prior to November 2014, the lawsuit states the tissue bank screened donors for genetic diseases using a complete blood count (CBC) and “other self-reporting questionnaires” that, according to the suit, were ineffective for detecting the genetic diseases for which MCB promised to test.

The sperm bank’s testing methods changed in November 2014, when it was purchased by co-defendant LifePrint Group, Inc., the suit says. After the acquisition, MCB allegedly switched to what is known as next-generation sequencing (NGS), which includes a number of more modern genetic sequencing technologies that reportedly allowed MCB to screen for more traits and diseases than it could detect using its previous method. In fact, according to the tissue bank’s website, MCB now tests donated sperm for 22 genetic diseases as opposed to the four that were listed on the site prior to November 2014.

As the lawsuit tells it, MCB, despite possessing knowledge that NGS technology allowed for “a more robust screening,” neglected to retroactively test its pre-November 2014 inventory using the new methods, and instead continued to sell the sperm to the public.

Further still, the sperm bank, the lawsuit alleges, refused to retroactively screen its inventory even after being notified that a child conceived using sperm from one of its pre-2014 donors—known as Donor 184—had been diagnosed with alpha thalassemia, a genetic disease MCB said it had screened for. After being rescreened, Donor 184 was reportedly found to be a carrier of the thalassemia trait, which the suit says is linked to “severe anemia that requires blood transfusions and may be lethal.” An internal audit conducted by the company’s CEO after this discovery apparently revealed other donors who should have been rejected, the suit says.

“Shockingly,” the complaint reads, “after learning of other pre-November 2014 donors who may have genetic diseases or be carriers of such, for more than three years MCB did nothing to notify consumers who purchased pre-November 1, 2014 sperm of the fact that it had not been properly screened and that an internal audit had further identified approved donors who should have been rejected by MCB.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, two women who purchased sperm from Donor 184, say the defendants never warned them that the sperm they received may contain genetic diseases. According to the suit, they were forced to pay out-of-pocket to test their children for the thalassemia trait.