TACOMA (CN) - A man who claims he learned during his divorce that his daughter was conceived artificially, using his sperm and a donor egg, sued the fertility clinic and his estranged wife - who is in jail charged with hiring a hit man to kill him.
Todd Hardin claims in Pierce County Court that he and his wife went to a fertility clinic in 2002 for in vitro fertilization, but the process failed.
In 2003, the clinic found an egg donor for the couple and Hardin's wife, defendant Karen Lofgren, became pregnant and had a child, according to the complaint.
Hardin claims that the clinic, the defendants Center for Reproductive Health and its successor Northwest OB-GYN, froze his sperm and the unused embryos for future use.
Hardin claims his wife went back to the clinic in 2005, without his knowledge or consent, to use the frozen embryos to conceive another child.
"In or about February of 2005, defendant Karen E. Lofgren, who remained married to plaintiff Todd T. Hardin at that time, again presented herself to defendants Edwin Robins, M.D., P.S. and Northwest OB-GYN, P.S. without the knowledge, consent or agreement of plaintiff, Todd T. Hardin. Without the knowledge, consent or agreement of plaintiff Todd T. Hardin, defendant Karen E. Lofgren utilized all remaining cryopreserved embryos from February 2003 in an effort to achieve a new pregnancy," the complaint states.
"The contractual documents prepared and presented by defendants Edwin Robins, M.D., P.S. and Northwest OB-GYN, P.S. required Todd T. Hardin's signature for these additional procedures. However, these efforts by the defendant Karen E. Lofgren were undertaken without Todd T. Hardin's signature, agreement or consent and performed by defendants Edwin Robins, M.D., P.S. and Northwest OB-GYN, P.S. without Todd T. Hardin's knowledge, consent or agreement."
Edwin Robins, M.D., P.S., is a Washington corporation dba the Center for Reproductive Health; and Edwin Robins M.D., P.S. is also a successor to Northwest OB-GYN, according to the complaint.
Hardin says he does not know what the outcome of the February 2005 procedure was, but claims that 8 months later his wife returned to the clinic, hoping to conceive. He claims that she picked a new egg donor and was allowed to use Hardin's frozen sperm again without his knowledge or consent, and that this time she became pregnant and had another child in 2006.
"At all times material hereto, defendant Karen E. Lofgren represented to plaintiff Todd T. Hardin that her second pregnancy was she and Todd T. Hardin's child biologically," the complaint states.
Lofgren later told Hardin she was pregnant again but had a miscarriage, prompting Hardin to get a vasectomy, according to the complaint.
In 2010, Hardin claims, Lofgren forged his signature on consent forms allowing the clinic to destroy the frozen embryos.
The complaint states: "Defendant Karen E. Lofgren fraudulently executed or had executed at her direction this document which was accepted by the defendants Edwin Robins, M.D., P.S. and Northwest OB-GYN, P.S. Employees and/or agents and representatives of defendants Edwin Robins, M.D., P.S. and Northwest OB-GYN, P.S. countersigned the consent to discard cryo-preserved embryos and specifically represented in that form as follows: