NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Ever since the Center for Reproductive Health abruptly closed back in April, we have been committed to following the fallout.
When the fertility clinic shut down, some patients were in the middle of their fertility treatments while hundreds of others suddenly had no way to access their frozen eggs and embryos.
It's been heartbreaking to hear these women's stories.
But what you may not realize just how much it is costing to get everything sorted out and who exactly is paying for it.
No matter how you count it $1.65 million is a lot of money.
And now the state of Tennessee has agreed to pay out that money.
But it's not going to patients of the Center for Reproductive Health who gave the clinic tens of thousands of dollars, like Julie Monroy.
"I myself have spent an outrageous amount. If I'm being honest, over $50,000 just for myself," Monroy shared.
No, that more than $1.5 million of state money has been set aside to pay the company and lawyers brought in by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office to wind things down at the former Nashville fertility clinic.
"I’m speechless. That’s astounding," Monroy said upon hearing the amount.
But what's really astounding is just how much it costs.
Court records show the receiver, Jeremiah Foster, and his assistants charge upwards of $400 to over $500 an hour while the team of attorneys he hired to advise him, get between $600 and $700 an hour.
Former patient Sarah Davis heard that and said, "I mean, that is outrageous."
The receiver was hired to figure out what to do with what was left of the clinic after it suddenly closed in April, including all of the patients' medical records and more than a thousand frozen eggs and embryos stored in large tanks that were left in the facility. Insiders say closing down an IVF clinic is a complicated and delicate process.
And it's not cheap.
After just the first five days of work on the case, the receiver's bill was $51,000 while his attorneys' fees totaled $25,000.
"So we are talking more than $75,000 for five days' work?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates pointed out to attorney Tricia Herzfeld.
"Yeah, and I just think it’s a shame that everyone's saying there’s no money for the patients," she replied.
Herzfeld represents two former clinic patients who do not wish to be identified. They had hoped to sue the clinic and its medical director, Dr. Jaime Vasquez, but learned during a recent court hearing that the former fertility clinic has no money.
One of the receiver's attorneys, Peter Riggs, explained during an August 30th court hearing, "We have no reason to think that there’s going to be assets available for distribution to claimants.
That means .there's nothing for patients who in some cases, never got the fertility treatments they'd paid for, and nothing to cover the costs of winding the business down.
That's where the state comes in. The Attorney General's Office originally agreed to pay up to $150,000 to the receiver and his team. But as the case has dragged on, the bills have only continued to grow.
First there was the $77,00 bill for five days in April. In May, it was $324,066. In June, $252,029. And July, $139,803. All together just the receiver and legal bills total $793,380 through just the end of July. Bills still have not been submitted for August or September. And the work still isn't done.
Former patients like Sarah Davis can't believe the state is going to be stuck paying all of these bills.
"It seems absolutely ridiculous," she said.
And patient attorney Tricia Herzfeld agrees.
"I don’t think it ever should have happened in the first place. I think the doctor and the clinic should have been a lot more responsible in the way things were handled so nobody was put in this position," Herzfeld stated.
It's important to note that the state is covering a lot of other expenses too, including the cost to transfer all of the embryos to the new fertility clinic and store them at no charge to patients for the next six months and store patients' medical records for the next ten years.
The receiver also had to hire specialists to keep the tanks of embryos frozen until they could be transferred. And then there are things like rent which the clinic hadn't paid in months.
The receiver told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that he's actually paid many of these bills out of his own pocket and he and his team have not yet been paid for most of the work they've done on the case.
They'll be in court Friday, asking the judge to approve the $1.65 million to cover all of these expenses.
As far as the patients' frustration, the AG's Office told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that this money cannot be used to pay out or cover the damages of individual consumers. But they hope that what they have been and are able to spend it on will in some way help the former patients of this clinic move past what they call a "very challenging and distressing part of their lives."
Full statement of Receiver Jeremiah Foster:
"The 1.6 million dollar figure contained in a recent request from the TN Attorney General’s office to modify the temporary injunction is intended to cover the operational expenses of the receivership estate, including all of the associated costs of transferring patient embryos to TFI, six months of storage with TFI while all patients are contacted concerning their particular instructions for their embryos, arranging for records storage of both electronic and paper records and storing those records for the next ten years, administrative costs of the estate such as back due rent, contractor time to respond to patient inquiries and records requests, services utilized by the receivership entities to maintain the clinic while the winddown is taking place, and many other operational expenses. It also includes the fees for the receiver and his staff and the lawyers for the receiver. This is a complex case and has involved at times contested motion practice, a myriad of health care issues requiring expertise, negotiation, and outreach to patients in a compliant manner. There were/are very little financial resources remaining from the receivership entities operations. There have been times when the receiver had to personally front money to the estate due to insufficient funds. As a result, the current efforts in this case are being funded through a combination of the existing resources of the estate and funds from the TN Attorney General’s office. All expenses are detailed in the receiver’s reports, as well as the fee applications being submitted on a regular basis by counsel. The 1.6 million dollar funding request is intended to cover all of the above."
Full statement from the Tennessee AG's Office:
“The Attorney General's Office is authorized to use the Office’s consumer protection funds to support the Attorney General’s efforts to enforce violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act throughout the state. To bring an immediate end to TCPA violations, the Attorney General may request, and a court may appoint, a receiver to manage the operations of a business violating the Act. Depending upon the financial state of the business, the Attorney General may be responsible for the costs of a court-appointed receiver, and may use available funds to meet that responsibility. The AG’s Office, however, cannot use its funds to pay out or cover the damages that TCPA defendants may have caused to individual consumers. Here, the $1.65 million for the CRH Receiver’s anticipated fees and costs is being provided to fund ongoing efforts that support Dr. Vasquez’s former patients as they transition their care to their chosen providers. The funds will pay for, among other things, the safe transfer of patients’ embryos and genetic materials to Tennessee Fertility Institute for continuing care, maintenance, and access by patients, and ongoing maintenance and administration of medical records of the former patients of CRH. It is the hope of the AG’s Office that these funds will in some way help all former patients of Dr. Vasquez successfully move past this very challenging and distressing part of their lives.”
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