STREETERVILLE — After placing his trust — and sperm — in Northwestern Memorial Hospital, a man is now suing after the semen he stored there was irreversibly damaged, according to the Chicago Tribune.
On Monday, a man using the name “John Anonymous” filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court that claimed the hospital’s cryopreservation tanks malfunctioned in April of 2012, causing his semen to thaw and die.
According to a statement from Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, both a cryopreservation tank and alarm system failed on or around April 21, ultimately impacting more than 250 fertility patients who had semen samples stored at the hospital.
The primary cause of the tank failure is unknown.
The hospital claims that no problems with the control panel were found during an annual maintenance check in July 2011.
Three other men who claimed their sperm had been destroyed filed a motion over the summer to inspect the hospital’s cryopreservation system, according to the Tribune.
“John Anonymous” had stored his semen at Northwestern Medical facility since 2008. According to the Tribune, the man will not be able to conceive biological children due to the lost sperm.
Calls to Emily Herrell, the man’s attorney, were not returned Tuesday morning.
