New Haven, Conn.-based Yale University has settled a lawsuit brought by 93 patients claiming they had endured excruciating egg retrieval procedures after a nurse secretly swapped their fentanyl for saline solution, The New York Times reported Sept. 9.
Seven former patients filed a lawsuit Oct. 10, 2023, claiming they underwent painful fertility procedures with little to no pain relief. Dozens of others joined the lawsuit, saying they underwent extremely painful procedures. In the fall of 2020, Donna Monticone, a former nurse responsible for the ordering and inventory of controlled substances at the Yale Fertility Center on Yale University's West Campus in Orange, Conn., was found to have been stealing vials of fentanyl used for fertility procedures and replacing them with saline. Vials of saline were then administered to patients by staff, who at the time, did not know pain medications had been tampered with. Ms. Monticone diverted at least 75% of fentanyl stored at the clinic. She pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product in March 2021.
The plaintiffs said Yale did not take proper steps to prevent the diversion or take their complaints of pain seriously.
Now, the lawsuit has been settled for a "substantial" amount, though the exact figures have not been disclosed. Court filings from last year proposed a settlement of roughly $2 million for each patient, according to the report.
"The women in this case were absolutely insistent that there would be no monetary settlement until the university had addressed all the problems that resulted in this occurring," Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the Times. Part of the final settlement included assurances from Yale that the clinic had made changes to prevent repeat situations.
"This mutual agreement allows both parties to move forward and begin healing," Karen Peart, a spokeswoman for Yale, told the Times. The fertility clinic now has "rigorous processes, procedures and safeguards in place," she said and additional staff training and new leadership at the facility.