Major Lawsuit Filed Against Connecticut-Based Illume Fertility for Gross Negligence After Unauthorized Destruction of Couple’s Embryos
Today, Clarkson Law Firm, a leading public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit in Connecticut State Court against Illume Fertility, which operates five fertility clinics in Connecticut and New York, and its founder and medical director, Dr. Mark Leondires. The suit, filed on behalf of a New York-based couple, alleges that Illume Fertility’s gross negligence led to the couple’s embryos being confused with another patient’s, resulting in their destruction, as well as the clinic’s failure to inform the couple of their error for five years.
“Few relationships involve as much trust as between a couple and their fertility doctor, working to bring children into the world,” said Tracey Cowan, partner at Clarkson Law Firm and one of the nation’s leading fertility law experts. “Tragically, this trust was betrayed. The family for which this couple planned, dreamed, and poured their savings into was cut short and for that, Illume Fertility and their doctor, Mark Leondires, must be held accountable.”
After struggling to conceive, in 2010, Nicole Couture-Gallagher and Dan Gallagher decided to undergo expensive and painful IVF procedures to fulfill their hopes of becoming parents. With their doctor, Dr. Mark Leondires, they successfully froze 11 viable embryos for future use and stored them with Illume Fertility. After transferring eight of the embryos, three remained in Illume’s care from 2011 onwards. However, in 2019, Illume mistakenly discarded their frozen embryos. Five years after the incident, in March 2024, the clinic finally realized their grave error and alerted Nicole and Daniel of the loss, devastating the couple who had dreamed of growing their family. Dr. Leondires told the couple that the clinic confused Nicole’s unique, hyphenated last name with another patient who had requested their embryos be destroyed. Leondires then tried to downplay their loss, telling them they probably would not have used the embryos anyway – despite happily charging them for years to store the embryos. Illume Fertility then continued to invoice the couple hundreds of dollars for the storage of the destroyed embryos.
“Fertility care providers should know better than anyone that for couples like Nicole and Dan, embryos are precious and irreplaceable, each representing a unique potential life and addition to their family,” said Olivia Davis, associate at Clarkson Law Firm. “Mistakenly destroying the embryos of patients is a massive breach of trust and care. Nicole and Dan were stripped of a choice that was solely theirs to make.”
While IVF has become a booming industry and an essential fertility option for people looking to become pregnant, Illume Fertility’s carelessness is not the only example of fertility clinics accidentally mixing up medical records and destroying embryos, stripping away people’s dreams of building and growing their families. Despite the faith individuals place in fertility clinics, the industry has repeatedly withheld information from couples and made preventable errors that forever change people’s lives.
“Fertility clinics and doctors are entrusted with precious life, and that responsibility requires extreme attention to proper labeling, storage, recording, and handling of embryos,” said Ryan Clarkson, managing partner at Clarkson Law Firm. “Illume Fertility’s recklessness demonstrates that they do not take their responsibility to their patients seriously, nor do they respect well-established industry norms. They have much to answer for how this serious error occurred and what steps they will take to prevent this from ever impacting another couple again.”
