A couple has sued a Long Island hospital where they went for fertility treatments, claiming it destroyed their fertilized embryos without their permission.
Abida and Sajid Mahmood filed the malpractice suit against North Shore-Long Island Jewish Center for Human Reproduction in Nassau County Supreme Court.
The lawsuit says their doctor extracted 18 eggs last November, and 16 of them were successfully fertilized. The New York Post reports that four of the embryos were later implanted into Abida Mahmood but failed to produce a pregnancy.
"It was very painful," Abida Mahmood, 37, told the Post. "I feel like they killed my babies. I've been crying for months."
The couple says when they decided to change doctors in May, they were told to pick up the remaining embryos. But after waiting for an hour at the hospital, they say they were informed that the embryos had been thawed and destroyed.
Hospital spokesman told the Post the problem "was some kind of misunderstanding.'' "I asked them, 'Why did you destroy my embryos without my permission?' " said Abida, an airport security officer, of the situation.
