Cleveland — Matt and Emily Petite of Painesville Township are so very grateful for IVF in giving them the gift of 2-year-old Mason.
2 more of their frozen embryos at University Hospitals were supposed to be the kids that would complete their family.
Instead, they were part of the 4,000 eggs and embryos that were destroyed when the temperature got too high in the liquid nitrogen tank.
In March, when asked what they would say to UH, the Petites told Channel 3 News, "We had our future in that tank and your human error has robbed us of that."
Almost 2 months later, Matt is saying, “I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest again"
That’s because attorneys for University Hospitals filed a motion Friday, just before the courts closed, to dismiss families' claims in court.
The Petities call it a sucker punch filed at the end of the business day. The day before a memorial service is set for embryos who were never born. 2 days before Mother’s Day.
"This Mother’s Day I know I’ll never get to be a new mom ever again and that’s because of U-H” Emily said on Friday.
The Petites are a snapshot of the 950 patients still trying to wrap their minds around all of this.
Jack Landskroner is one of the attorneys representing families who are suing U-H.
On Friday he told Channel 3 News, “University Hospitals CEO goes on camera and says he understands patients are grieving and that they are grieving with them. Then he promptly goes out and instructs his lawyers to file a motion to dismiss the claims of the people whose embryos they destroyed. It’s outrageous."
The motion states over and over that patient claims are “Medical Claims."
Landskroner says emphatically, “It's not a medical claim. This is a big corporation trying to deprive people from having their day in court".
He explains that medical claims have to have an affidavit from a doctor that says there was negligence and that it caused damage.
“They also limit the amount of time that they have to bring claims and cap the damages that they can pursue," said Landskroner.
The way Matt Petite sees it, “All of a sudden they don't want to own up to it and they want to discredit everything that we're fighting for".
According to Landskroner, if Judge Friedman determines they are, in fact, “medical claims”, patients’ attorneys will have time to file necessary documents.
“And we will certainly do that as soon as UH ponies up the information that they have been keeping from us," says Landskroner.
University Hospitals sent the following statement to Channel 3 News on Friday.
“University Hospitals continues to offer clinical and emotional support to patients affected by this difficult situation. With regard to the legal proceeding you reference, when a lawsuit is filed, Ohio law requires that all medical claims be accompanied by an affidavit of merit. In this matter, the plaintiffs’ attorneys did not file the necessary documentation. So we have asked the court to dismiss the claims that were not properly supported when filed – in keeping with Ohio law.”
"The hospital is just continuing to slap us in the face. Work with the patients. Ensure this never happens again. Don't fight us," said Matt Petite.