Company Destroyed Life-Saving Stem Cells, Kept Charging for Storage, Parents Allege

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CBBC Stem Cell Destruction Lawsuit Overview:

• Who: Parents are suing Cord Blood Bank of Canada, which kept samples of their children’s stem cells that could be used medically in the future.
• Why: The blood bank filed a class action lawsuit alleging the samples were destroyed by a third party, even though it did not inform clients and continued to charge for their storage.
• Where: Toronto.

Parents who trusted a company to safely store stem cells from their children that could potentially save their lives in the future say they’ve discovered the samples were destroyed, but they were still charged for storage.

A new CBC investigation has revealed that stem cell samples stored by Toronto company Cord Blood Bank of Canada (CBBC) were destroyed nearly three years ago, and its clients were not informed.

The CBC report said parents learned their samples had been destroyed after CBBC filed a class action lawsuit alleging the stem cell samples were destroyed by another party.

One parent, Shannon Callaghan, told CBC she stored stem cells with the company because she has cancer in her family, and she wanted to do anything in her power to help her child in case that cancer was ever passed down. 

Umbilical cord blood contains stem cells that can be used to treat some health conditions such as leukemia. 

Callaghan said she’s paid for storage for most of her 15-year-old daughter’s life, with the last charge to her account in July 2019.

However, CBBC owner Bernartka Ellison said in the blood bank’s court filings that the samples were destroyed in October 2018.

“I kind of feel ripped off,” Callaghan told CBC. “I’m very angry about this whole situation.”

Ellison told CBC via email they were angry about the situation, too, and that they “are in the process of gathering information for Cord Blood Bank of Canada clients who are in good standing to join in the certification of our class-action lawsuit” against the defendants the company alleges destroyed the samples.

Ellison said they expected each of the affected CBBC clients would receive $300,000 per sample from the defendants.

In other medical legal news, a former fertility doctor based in Ottawa and accused of using the wrong sperm — including his own — in procedures has reportedly agreed to pay $13.375 million to end a wrongful insemination class action lawsuit.  

The class action lawsuit, filed on behalf of parents and children conceived as a result, was certified Wednesday, reports the Ottawa Citizen. 

Class Members include more than 200 people, including at least 100 children who were conceived using insemination with the wrong sperm. Additionally, men who stored sperm at Dr. Barwin’s medical clinic may be able to take part in the wrongful insemination class action settlement. 

What do you think of the claims in this story? Let us know in the comments!

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