# Cancer patients lose chance of children after hospital destroys frozen sperm



## Emnige (Apr 11, 2011)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060893/Cancer-patients-lose-chance-children-hospital-destroys-frozen-sperm.html



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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

it is horrendous and sounds v lac- the headline is about cancer pts, but all the pts whose sperm in there will be devastated as well
Lx


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## Emnige (Apr 11, 2011)

JJ1 I know, I can't imagine how those affected must be feeling. I'm so glad I left IVF Wales and went to a private clinic. I always wondered my Janet Evans left. Now I know x


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## Helen85 (Feb 12, 2011)

Nothing surprises me With the nhs !!! Just feel so sorry for the poor men that have had there chance of fatherhood taken away from them !! Completely disgusted by how something as important as storing these men's only chance of having a biological family was cared for so badly , the clinic should be shut and all staff involved replaced with people that can be bothered to do there job properly . If that was me and They were my last eggs and the only chance of a family my life would be ruined , my heart goes out to all involved Xx


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## Kitty71 (Apr 14, 2010)

Terrible news for those poor people, my heart goes out to them.

I do wish though that people wouldn't "bash" the NHS. Like them or not the NHS has helped a tremendous amount of people on this site achieve their dreams and are lifesavers for those who can't afford private treatment.

IF is difficult enough without people losing confidence in their care providers. For a great many people the NHS is their only hope.

kitty


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## Helen85 (Feb 12, 2011)

No offence kitty but I've had quite bad experience with the nhs and won't feel bad for voicing my issue with them. I took a personal choice to spend savings rather than use the nhs for my treatment . If ivf Wales is anything to go by thank good I did!! All I can say is I feel sorry for the people having to pay tax for substandard  care  and that's all they can have as they have the money to go private. 
Everyone is within there right to have there own opinion and thats what mine is!!!!


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## Kitty71 (Apr 14, 2010)

No offence taken Helen. Even with the abundance of exlamation marks.


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

Kitty71 said:


> Terrible news for those poor people, my heart goes out to them.
> 
> I do wish though that people wouldn't "bash" the NHS. Like them or not the NHS has helped a tremendous amount of people on this site achieve their dreams and are lifesavers for those who can't afford private treatment.
> 
> ...


Here here Kitty !! the NHS and staff in get a bashing in the Press daily- as a nurse since I was 18 I see that most people genuinely come to work to do good for their patients, and feel privileged to do so, 24/7 365 days of a year, for little pay. It is hard to attract people into the profession when the Daily Mail etc are vilifying them, there are over 600,000+ nurses registered in the UK so a tip of the iceburg that hit the headline really. It is the processes that are flawed and managers that have scrimped and cut budgets that result in pt safety errors most time but they should be highlighted and resolved.

Where are HFEA in this as they are supposed to inspect all the clinics annually !

Also many of the private clinics have had mishaps as well. I have only had my fertility care privately as I am not entitled to NHS care but it hasn't been that great in places, prescribing errors in all the clinics, lack of dignity and respect etc - butsometimes nice curtains and carpets!
L


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## kara76 (Dec 14, 2004)

As always with the media I would like to know the full story as I know how stories within the media don't always state the full facts.

Totally gutted for all those men that lost sperm and omg those women who had sperm not properly checked

This was my clinic for 5 years and the staff are very dedicated and having campaigned for more nhs ivf funding I feel this is a blow for all involved. Ivf wales are the only nhs clinic for ivf in wales and are over worked and probably underpaid yet never did I get any uncaring from them all and they also support our campaign fully

I doubt a cancer patient would store 1 vial of sperm so with any luck the lost sperm wouldn't mean no sperm.

No one wants mistakes to happen yet they do and that's with any part of life just a shame for all involved

Would like to also add that the media has also worded passed stories wrongly and even my own personal story has been mis quoted

Good old daily mail yet any printing a negative fertility story!


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## Caz (Jul 21, 2002)

From what I read in the report (and I may have misread it) the mistake they are mainly concerned with at the start is that the person transferring the vials from an old container to a new one, did not follow correct protocol when disposing of some vials that were already unusable. Surely that's a little bit of a moot point when the fact there were so many broken/unlabelled over a 9 year period shows a continuance of lack of care througout that time. 
I hate how the focus seems to be on the fact someone didn't follow protocol when disposing of what would surely have been unusable samples anyway, when really, it's the fact they were rendered unusuable - and why - that I would think the patients would be more upset over!

I have to say, I do think it unfair to blame it on it being NHS uselessness. I appreciate that everyone is entitled to their views but I don't think it particularly fair to label the entire service as bad/rubbish. The NHS are not always useless, and sometimes, in fact (majority of the time) it is extremely good. But being very good does not make good news does it?  So we only hear the horror stories.  I think we could all reel off a bad experience we have had with the NHS, but unless you've been extraordinarily unlucky, I think we could all counter that with 10 good stories when they've done their job. 
I'd certainly take the NHS over the U.S. system any day; a friend of mine's partner has had a broken arm for 6 weeks - she can't get anyone to perform the surgry needed on it because they don't have appropriate insurance for the admitting hospital to do it (she had a car accident and they just set it as best they could and sent her off telling her she needed it seen to properly) and nobody else will touch it because they're worried about being sued and say the original hospital had to fix it... who they can't afford... catch 22.  No ta, I'll take my NHS any day. 

Also worth bearing in mind that a lot of private clinics make mistakes too (sometimes very serious ones) and some of them have atrocious customer care too... and they are taking your money for the privilege! 
I'm not dismissing the dreadful, if not downright dangerous, mistakes this centre made, but I am suggesting we don't assume becuase theya re bad that all NHS centres are bad. 


C~x


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## kara76 (Dec 14, 2004)

Ivf wales has never given me substandard care yep waits are long and its easy to become disheartened when you want to cycle so so bad. 
I campaigned though a very stressful cycle for more nhs funded because people need it and helen thank god your treatment worked first time, imagine self funding time and time again like we did, back then there wasn't two cycles on the nhs.

What happened is awful, no doubt there yet I too agree its not isoloted to the nhs, I've heard of mistakes no reported , friends have lost embryos, dropped embryos, vials cracked or embryos not actually stored at all and clinic just offer free cycles! The postive to come out of this is that clinic would of reported this back to the hfea themselves just like they did with the other incident dragged up and mis quoted about a wrong embryo being implanted.

The media twist things to make it a better story, fact.

I for one am a fan of the nhs, the staff work their socks off, they are always there when ill or needed.

Ivf wales has made a lot of families in its time and I for one shall always support the clinic that made our dream come time


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