Portuguese IVF clinic’s insolvency disrupts care for British patients

Ovom Care, a fertility clinic in Portugal, filed for insolvency in August after continuing to take payments and provide treatment until days before it closed, The Independent reported. At least 38 British patients were with the clinic when it became insolvent. [1]

Pippa Hogg and Jay Brown told the newspaper they had paid £10,000 in August for three egg collections, as well as £2,800 for donor sperm. They estimated that the wider treatment process had cost them about £32,000. Another patient, Michelle Haworth, said she and her husband believed they were £20,000 out of pocket. [1]

The insolvency administrator and Portugal’s assisted-reproduction regulator approved a process to move stored eggs, sperm and embryos to Ava Clinic in Lisbon. Ovom says the transfer was completed safely. Separately, the London-based Avenues clinic has offered to take over British patients’ care. [1]