Woman Receives $500 Bill In The Mail For 13-Year-Old Frozen Embryo She Didn't Know Existed

May 27, 2021 by apost team

A woman in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, received a hefty and unexpected bill in the mail from the Women & Infants’ Fertility Center regarding an embryo she was unaware the hospital even had. Her frozen embryo had been in storage for 13 years without her knowledge, and the fertility center, located in Providence, Rhode Island, asked her to pay $500 to continue keeping it there.

Everyone has their own way of starting their family, whether it’s through natural conception, surrogacy, the use of a fertility center and treatment or any other method that best works for their situation. Whatever the case may be, people deserve full disclosure about what happens afterward, especially if they are paying a lot of money to help start a family.

This was not the case when it came to Marisa Cloutier-Bristol, the woman who was unaware of her own frozen embryo at the Women & Infants’ Fertility Center. She and her husband went through a few rounds of in vitro fertility treatment but were unfortunately unsuccessful — or so they thought. Although the hospital claimed to be up-front with its patients and keep an open dialogue with them, they failed to do so when it came to this woman and her devastating situation.

Cloutier-Bristol first found out about the situation in 2017, but it wasn’t until March 2019 when she was forced to take action and file a lawsuit against the hospital, leading to her story being broadcast across different news outlets to be shared with others to make sure the same doesn’t happen to anyone else.

WPRI reported that Cloutier-Bristol and her late husband, John Cloutier, first went to the Women & Infants’ Fertility Center for In Vitro Fertilization treatment back in 2003. They produced four embryos, but the hospital said that were all not able to develop any further. This was not the case, though, as one of the embryos ended up frozen in storage for many years afterward.

“I received a letter in the mail from Women & Infants’ Providence,” Cloutier-Bristol said during an interview with Good Morning America in March 2019. “They were now going to be billing for storage of frozen embryos.” Cloutier-Bristol was completely taken aback by the bill, as she was unaware that she even had frozen embryos since she was previously told otherwise. “I thought, well, this is crazy, this has to be a complete mistake, this has to be a mass-mailing because I don’t have a frozen embryo,” she said.

The couple went through three unsuccessful rounds of in vitro fertility treatment, according to a Good Morning America report from March 2019. The news outlet reported that she first found out about her frozen embryo in 2017. “We had never dreamed of just having one child,” Cloutier-Bristol said. “We always wanted more, I mean, I could’ve had 10 easily.” 

WPRI reported that Cloutier-Bristol sued the fertility center “for breach of informed consent, breach of contract, professional negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.” According to a lawsuit filed by Cloutier-Bristol and obtained by WPRI, the couple would have attempted another pregnancy had they known about the developed embryo.

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Unfortunately, it was too late for the couple to try again once the news about her frozen embryo broke, as her husband had unexpectedly passed away in sleep. “This tragic mistake prevented Mrs. Cloutier-Bristol, now 45 years old, from having a child with her husband before he passed away in 2006,” the complaint said.

“My world was totally turned upside down,” Cloutier-Bristol said. She took some time to grieve and cope with the tragic situation before finding peace and moving on. Cloutier-Bristol remarried and was finally happy again until she received the now infamous letter in the mail from Women & Infants’ Fertility Center. “I felt like I was now grieving a child that I didn’t even know existed, a child that I could have had,” she said. “It was a piece of John, it was a sibling for my son, Brett.”

WPRI reported that the fertility center explained how despite this situation with Cloutier-Bristol, they have continued to “maintain a commitment to open and honest communication with all patients about all aspects of their fertility treatment.”

Even though Cloutier-Bristol paid the bill to keep the frozen embryo in storage, she is not allowed to make any other decisions about it since her husband died. “I’m never going to have closure with this,” she said. Good Morning America reported that Cloutier-Bristol began speaking with a therapist following the devastating news, as she had been struggling with depression.

Despite the hospital’s claims of having open and honest communication with its patients, Cloutier-Bristol seems to have had a different experience.

What did you think about this heartbreaking story? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to pass this along to your family members and friends.