Chapter 16 - The Clinic’s Responsibility
Hudson Reproductive Medicine conducted its own review.
They did not conclude:
We did nothing wrong.
They also did not conclude:
Miranda forged everything.
The truth was procedural.
I had signed a valid standing transfer authorization.
Miranda remained authorized primary coordinator.
The clinic had sent electronic notices to both intended parents’ portal accounts.
I had not opened mine.
No formal withdrawal was recorded.
No documented call from me pausing treatment.
Under their protocol at the time, once both intended parents had executed consent and the carrier cycle was cleared, the primary liaison could coordinate scheduling without a fresh signature for each transfer.
Legally permissible under their counsel’s interpretation.
Operationally risky.
Especially when intended parents were not married yet and the cycle occurred months after signing.
The clinic also had one nurse note:
Miranda states Garrick is overwhelmed with wedding and prefers minimal scheduling contact.
Nobody verified with me.
Was that reasonable?
The clinic’s outside reviewer said:
Not best practice.
A direct confirmation from both intended parents before irreversible transfer should have occurred.
The clinic changed policy.
New requirement:
Time-limited transfer consent.
Direct confirmation from each intended parent within specified window before embryo thaw.
No confirmation solely through primary liaison.
The clinic reached a confidential civil settlement with me covering part of legal fees and counseling expenses related to the unauthorized-timing dispute.
Not millions.
No admission that parentage was invalid.
No attempt to undo pregnancy.
Miranda bore moral responsibility for concealing the transfer.
I bore responsibility for failing to revoke consent and ignoring portal messages.
The clinic bore responsibility for weak confirmation procedures.
Distributed failure.
May you like
Children often arrive at the end of systems nobody expected them to inherit.
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