Health Ministry closes clinic for defective IVF treatment

The L.B. IVF clinic linked to a case of imported fertilized eggs that were extracted from a woman with hemophilia B was closed on Sunday following a Health Ministry decision.

Following new findings and additional evidence that arrived at the office, a surprise audit was conducted at the clinic that raised the fear of clear and immediate harm to public health. 

The Health Ministry stated, "We continue to examine the additional necessary steps in the matter, including examination of the involvement of additional parties, under the limitations of a criminal investigation. We will continue to efficiently prevent damage to public health, including the public of patients at the clinic."

Patients suffer from professor's negligence

Last week, the name of Prof. David Bider, an expert in surgery and gynecology who founded the L.B. clinic, and who is suspected of being involved in importing the defective eggs from Georgia, was released. As part of an undercover investigation that was conducted for several months in the fraud unit of the Tel Aviv district, investigative materials were accumulated against two senior medical professionals. The first is an embryologist, head of a department in one of the private hospital chains, and the second is a professor who owns a private clinic for in vitro fertilization and who performed serval operations during the last few months. These professors were involved in the importation of fertilized eggs from Georgia in order to carry out fertilization in Israel for their patients. Some of these eggs were found to have a severe genetic disease called hemophilia B.

According to the suspicion, the eggs were extracted from women with hemophilia B in Georgia and returned to a number of women in Israel, from whom the investigation team collected testimonies after they were harmed by the treatment and return of the embryos. The police currently have the names of four complainants. In addition, there is a case of a woman in her 20th week of pregnancy who experienced a stillbirth, and in another case, one of the mothers gave birth to a baby infected with hemophilia B. The police are confident in the evidence they compiled that these professors committed the acts knowingly and knew the high risk of spreading the disease.