Oopsed?!

Fertility drug trainwreck, coming right up! They already had two kids, one
seriously handicapped. Mom wants another one. Dad doesn't. Marriage is on
rocks; dad's mental health not the best. Mom uses frozen embryo behind his
back. A la' oops! Let the lawsuits begin!


Trial opens in case of clinic, doctors sued over embryo pregnancy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) A man who says his wife was impregnated without his
permission at a clinic that used an embryo fertilized with his sperm said he
loves the child, but her birth shattered his family and sent him into a
continuing spiral of depression.

Richard Gladu, a former firefighter from Wayland, took the stand Wednesday
in
his $3 million breach of contract and negligence lawsuit against Dr. Selwyn
P. Oskowitz, Dr. Merle Berger and the fertility clinic Boston IVF.

Gladu said he was newly sober and hopeful he could repair his troubled
marriage when he learned his wife had been impregnated at the clinic in
December 1995 while he was away on a hunting trip.

''To be duped like this, it cut my legs off,'' Gladu. ''It just took
everything right out from under me. ... It took my family away. It took my
life away. Everything I had is gone right now.''

Gladu said that since then he's been on a string of psychiatric medications
to combat depression and was forced to retire early from his job as a
firefighter. He now works in hotel maintenance.

Though he loves his now-7-year-old daughter, Gladu added that he feels a
''hesitation'' around her that he doesn't feel around his other two children
and struggles not to blame her for time lost with his family.

''I can't get by it,'' he said. ''It makes me feel wicked guilty because I
love her. ... It's not how she is, it's how she came into the world that
concerns me.''

Now divorced, Gladu, who lives in Dennis, said he rarely sees his children
and can barely make ends meet. Gladu was scheduled to be cross-examined by
defense attorneys beginning Thursday.

In their opening statements, lawyers for the clinic and doctors said Gladu
gave consent for his embryos to be used, and their clients did nothing
wrong.

Kevin Reidy, an attorney for Boston IVF, said Gladu's problems are related
to
his long-standing bouts with depression and alcoholism.

''Mr. Gladu was not injured as a result of having a child he loves ... and
wants to be part of his life,'' Reidy said.

Gladu and his former wife, Meredith McLeod, had a son in 1994 by consensual
in-vitro fertilization at Boston IVF. Gladu said he signed papers in June
1993 indicating that two embryos frozen during that procedure were to be
used
only if his wife didn't get pregnant. Otherwise, they would be discarded or
donated to another couple.

''It was a one-baby deal. It wasn't for multiple babies,'' he testified.

Gladu said his marriage was struggling from the start and neared a breaking
point in 1995 because of the strain of holding down multiple jobs while
raising two children, one of whom has a rare form of cerebral palsy. Gladu
said his wife asked him in the fall of 1995 about implanting the frozen
embryos, but he told her he was overwhelmed and didn't want another child.

He said he didn't suspect his wife would go behind his back, even after he
took a call at the house from the clinic reminding her of the December 1995
appointment. He assumed it was a routine gynecological examination, he said.

Gladu testified that Oskowitz, his longtime doctor at the clinic, was
''shocked'' when Gladu told him he didn't know his wife was having the
embryos implanted, a procedure performed by Berger. But Susan Donnelly
Murphy, Oskowitz's lawyer, said Gladu's wife said Gladu supported her
efforts
to get pregnant again.

Reidy said Gladu signed consent forms allowing future implantation of the
frozen embryos, and never told the clinic he'd changed his mind.

''It was entirely reasonable for doctors to rely on Mrs. Gladu as the
spokesperson for the couple,'' he said.

The trial, which began Wednesday, is expected to last until the end of next
week.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/014/..._of_clinic_:.s
ht
ml

http://tinyurl.com/2qpf4

~AZ~