New Haven, Conn.-based Yale has agreed to settle with dozens of patients who filed lawsuits claiming a nurse at its fertility clinic swapped anesthesia for saline, according to a Sept. 9 report from The New York Times.
While the payout was undisclosed, plaintiffs’ lawyers said it was "substantial," according to the report. In court filings, plaintiffs suggested a $2 million payout per patient.
The settlement involved 93 patients who were seen at Yale Fertility Center in 2020. In the lawsuits, patients described egg retrievals they underwent at the center as "intensely painful." The patients claimed they complained to Yale and were allegedly ignored.
A subsequent Yale investigation found that clinic nurse Donna Monticone had tampered with most of the clinic’s fentanyl supply, replacing it with a saline solution.
From June to October 2020, approximately 75% of the fentanyl given to patients was either diluted or completely replaced with saline, according to the report.
Ms. Monticone, was sentenced in May 2021 to four weekends of incarceration and three months of house arrest.
In 2022, Yale University paid $308,000 to settle a Department of Justice investigation into whether the system had failed to keep its fentanyl supply secure.
Yale has changed its fertility clinic to have "rigorous processes, procedures and safeguards in place," Karen Peart, a spokesperson for Yale, told the Times.
The clinic has since added additional staff training and a new physician in charge of the facility.