失误使四千多枚卵子和胚胎失效

An Ohio fertility clinic said that the remote alarm system on its storage tank was turned off, so it didn't know that the temperature had fluctuated, and that the consequences were worse than it initially thought — all 4,000 eggs and embryos in the cryofreezer are likely nonviable.

一家俄亥俄的生殖诊所称它的仓库房间的遥控报警系统被关闭，导致温度波动，而后果比预想的还要糟糕—深冷冰箱里面所有的4000枚卵子和胚胎全部失效了。

In a letter to affected patients on Tuesday, the University Hospitals health care system wrote: "[W]e have determined that the total number of affected eggs and embryos for these patients is more than 4,000, not the estimate of 2,000 previously used. We are heartbroken to tell you that it's unlikely any are viable.”

在周二的致患者书中，这家大学医院保健系统写道：“我们检测到这些客户的卵子和胚胎超过4000份，还不包括之前使用了的2000份。我们很沉痛地通知你们它们失效了。”

University Hospitals said its investigation into the incident on March 3 to 4 at its fertility clinic in suburban Cleveland suggested the problems might have been caused by human error, mechanical failure or both.

大学医院称它们对克利夫兰市郊的生殖诊所这起发生于3月3日到4日之间的事故进行了调查，结果表明问题可能是由人为错误，机械故障或者两者共同引起的。

The first problem was that the remote alarm system on the tank, designed to alert a staff member if there were swings in temperature, was turned off.

第一个问题就是仓库的遥控警报系统，本来应该在温度变化时提醒诊所员工，但却被关闭了。

"We don't know when the remote alarm was turned off," the letter explained, "but it remained off through that weekend, so an alert wasn't sent to our employee as the tank temperature began to rise on Saturday night, when the lab isn't staffed.

“我们不知道遥控警报关闭了，”信中解释道，“而且它整个周末一直都是关着的，所以当温度在周六晚上开始上升时，我们的员工没有收到警报，”而那时候实验室没有人了。

An alarm should have been sent and received.

本来应该发送警报给员工的。

We don't know who turned off the remote alarm nor do we know how long it was off, but it appears to have been off for a period of time."

我们不知道遥控警报是谁关闭的，也不知道关闭了多久了，不过好像已经关了一段时间了。”

The letter also said the tank that failed needed preventative maintenance.

信中还说道仓库缺乏必需的预防性维护。

The tank had been having issues with the mechanism is that is supposed to automatically refill the liquid nitrogen to keep the specimens cold.

出事的仓库的机理是它本来应该自动装填液氮来保持样本的低温的。

As a result, the liquid nitrogen was being filled manually.

出事后，液氮改为手动装填。

"On the Friday before the weekend of the failure, the liquid nitrogen was brought in a container from the nearby Andrology Lab and poured into the tank," the letter says.

“在出事的周末之前的周五，液氮是从附近的男科实验室的储存器里买来然后灌入液氮室的，”信中写道。

"The liquid nitrogen levels in the tank were monitored and appeared to be appropriate on Friday and Saturday, but we now suspect that may not have been the case."

“仓库中的液氮水平受到检测，似乎在周五和周六都是正常的，不过我们现在对此也产生了怀疑。”

Just before the tank failure occurred, the clinic had been preparing to move all the specimens to an extra storage tank to perform maintenance on the automatic fill.

就在仓库事故发生前，诊所本来打算把所有的样本移到另外的储存室里来对自动装填系统进行维修。

Dr. James Liu, chairman of the hospital system's department of obstetrics and gynecology, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the clinic was "about a day or so out" from moving the eggs and embryos when the failure happened.

詹姆斯.刘博士是医院妇产科的主人，他告诉克利夫兰平原商报诊所再过一两天就准备移走所有的卵子和胚胎的，结果事故发生了。

The hospital system says it is refunding storage fees to those patients who had stored eggs and embryos, as well as offering tailored emotional and medical support, including a free round of IVF for those who want it.

院方称它正在给那些储存了卵子和胚胎的客户们退还储存的费用，同时提供后续的情感和医疗支持，包括给那些需要的人们提供一次免费的试管受精。

The hospital system isn't asking patients to sign a release in order to access the services.

院方没有要求患者们签署协议才能获得这些服务。

In a video statement, Tom Zenty, the hospital system's CEO, apologized for the failure:

在一个视频生命中，汤姆.壬提，也就是医院的CEO，对这次事故进行了致歉：

"We understand that our patients are grieving and we grieve with them.

我们对我们客户们的通信表示理解，我们也深表沉痛。

Clearly, we can't give back what was lost.

显然，我们不能把这次失去的再找回来。

We hope to help them recover some of that loss through the medical and emotional support services we have offered.

我们系统通过我们提供的医疗和情感支持服务来帮助他们尽快走出阴影。

I can't say it any more plainly: we failed our fertility clinic patients.

我也不打算掩饰：我们确实对不起那些生育诊所的病人们。

We are sorry. I am sorry. And we are going to everything we can to regain our patients' trust."

我们很抱歉。我本人也感到抱歉。我们会尽全力来重新赢得患者们的信任。”

The first court hearing in the matter was held on Monday.

这次事件的第一次听证会于周一举行。

The Plain Dealer reports that 57 plaintiffs have come forward thus far and that 22 lawsuits have been filed against University Hospitals.

平原商报报道有57名原告出席，提起了怼这家大学医院了22份诉讼。

It remains to be seen whether class action status will be granted.

不过诉讼会是什么等级还有待揭晓。

One couple who lost their embryos, Jeremy and Kate Plants, told the Plain Dealer in an email that the hospital system's letter and video were "horrifying."

一对失去了他们的胚胎的夫妇，杰瑞米和凯特.普朗次，在电子邮件中告诉平原商报这家医院的信件和视频都很令人恐惧。

"We had accepted that our embryos were lost, but our hearts break for those who were holding on to hope that their embryos were still alive," Jeremy Plants wrote.

“我们已经接受了我们的胚胎不再了的事实，不过想到那些还存有幻想希望自己的胚胎没事的人我们感到很心疼。”杰瑞米.普朗次写道。

He also criticized University Hospitals for not resolving its problems sooner.

他还批评了大象医院没有能更早解决问题。

"What were they thinking," he asked, "and why was nothing done before this disaster happened?"

“他们在想些什么呀，”他问到，“为什么出事之前不作为呢？”

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