Overview

When three whistle-blowers informed the authorities and the media in 1995 that doctors at the prestigious and lucrative Center for Reproductive Health - a fertility clinic operated by the University of California, Irvine (UCI) - were taking eggs from some women and implanting them into others without donor consent, a scandal unfolded that ended careers, destroyed reputations, and forever altered the lives of many families. The first incident of egg and embryo theft, as well as claims of insurance fraud, research misconduct and misappropriation of funds, grabbed headlines around the world and was featured on television programmes from Primetime to The Oprah Winfrey Show . By the time the scandal had subsided several years later, two of the clinic's pre-eminent physicians had fled the country to avoid prosecution, one doctor was convicted on criminal charges in a highly controversial trial, and UCI had paid over 20 million dollars to settle law suits filed by former patients. The full story behind the much-publicized case is unveiled here. The authors untangle an intricate web of repeated cover-ups, scapegoats, evasions, self-interest, nastiness and injustice. They scrutinize how a complex interplay of circumstances set the stage for wrongdoing at the clinic, reveal how the dramatic events were played out on both the public and legal battlefields, and examine how the personal histories, motivations and actions of the major players - the physicians, the whistle-blowers, the claimants, the lawyers, the various investigatory committees, the overzealous media, and UCI administrators. Stealing Dreams provides an absorbing, even-handed look at the evolution of the fertility clinic scandal and illuminates the complex ethical, medical and legal issues surrounding the largely unregulated field of reproductive medicine.

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9781555535858

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Stealing Dreams is a model case study of white-collar crime, and depicts the profound difficulties of investigating and exposing malfeasance on the new frontiers of biomedical practice. The book is of interest to anyone interested in issues of professional ethics, of institutional cover-ups, and of media sensationalism. It also makes for a simply engrossing story. -- Philip Jenkins, author of Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America and Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography Online

Detailed but dry account of malfeasance and witch hunts at the UC/Irvine's fertility clinic. The early-1990s controversy reflects the challenges of new technologies like in vitro fertilization, state coauthors Dodge (Public Affairs/Univ. of Colorado, Denver) and Geis (Law/UC Irvine; Crimes of the Century, 1998, etc.). It is also, they write, a story replete with evasions, nastiness, and injustice. The authors begin in 1995, when traumatized couples came forward to claim that eggs stored at the clinic had been implanted in other women without their permission. Dodge and Geis then backtrack to the clinic's 1986 hiring of prominent reproductive physician Ricardo Asch, whose accounting and record-keeping were soon questioned by subordinates. Conflicts between doctors and staff led to audits amid an atmosphere of distrust; in 1994, three clinic employees filed formal complaints with multiple fraud-related allegations. By the time the National Institutes of Health intervened, the situation had developed into a PR disaster. The authors convincingly argue, as many in the medical community did at the time, that UCI deliberately directed the scandal toward Asch and two Latin American colleagues, who were publicly tarred as greedy and remote. Asch and Jose Balmaceda fled to their home countries; Sergio Stone stayed and was seemingly prosecuted for the allegations against all three. Devoting long chapters to each doctor's case, Dodge and Geis explore the ambiguities, arguing that the physicians were pilloried for behavior that was hardly unique. Alienation of civilian managers and poor record-keeping were common practices in the medical subculture, the authors assert, abetted in this instance by UCI's lack of oversight until damage control was necessary. Dodge and Geis take a broad view, summarizing the scandal's every stage and providing legalistic references that fill in the details without generating much suspense. Their tart analysis of the thorny field of contemporary reproductive science, however, is eye-opening and informative. More for students of clinical management and reproductive issues than general readers. (Kirkus Reviews)

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