In the European Medical Center surrogate mothers carried children for HIV-infected men

The Moscow Arbitration Court found the European Medical Center guilty of providing surrogate mothers to single HIV-infected men.

Ivan Petrovsky

In the fall of 2020, the Territorial Healthcare Supervision Authority for the city of Moscow and the Moscow Region conducted an on-site unscheduled inspection of the European Medical Center. In addition to numerous errors in the maintenance of medical records, the inspectors found more serious violations.

After a loud story about babies who could not be picked up by the families of "customers" because of the pandemic in the summer of 2020, it became obvious that the production of "surrogate" babies for a lot of money was put on stream in the capital. On the submission of the supervision department, the court stated that “numerous cases of the use of assisted reproductive technologies have been established not for the purpose of treating infertility, for persons who do not have the right to use these technologies, which violates the requirements of paragraph 2 of the “Procedure for the use of assisted reproductive technologies, contraindications and restrictions on their use", approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation of August 30, 2012 No. 107n and pp. "A" clause 5 of the Regulations on the licensing of medical activities".

In other words, bypassing the law, those who could pay 30 thousand dollars could "order" a baby for themselves without much trouble. This highly profitable business is perceived ambiguously in society. In Europe, surrogacy is prohibited, therefore countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Russia have literally become "incubators" for everyone who is ready to buy the happiness of motherhood or fatherhood for money. And everything would be fine if the donors were healthy. However, the check showed that among the fathers who ordered were HIV-infected. The court found that surrogate mothers were not properly informed about the status of potential fathers. How could it happen that the health of mothers was in such danger? Is it possible that even in such a sensitive area as having children, only money has become important?

"Novye Izvestia" addressed questions to the Territorial Administration for Supervision in Healthcare and the European Medical Center.

The supervisor has been slow to respond, but the European Center has responded very quickly.

Despite the court decision and the punishment incurred, the EMC press service insists that “the surrogate mother referred to in the court decision was notified that one of the biological parents was HIV positive. The patient signed the corresponding informed voluntary consent about this, which is available in the case file and in the EMC order. The violation consisted only in the form of registration of such consent, which is a legal conflict".

It is not clear why an unnamed press service answers the question about the quality of medical services at the European Medical Center. Or did the chief physician or leading specialist of the clinic not consider it necessary to explain what happened? Further, the explanation looks even more absurd.

“Moreover, the specified surrogate mother did not suffer in any way, since in fact she was notified against her signature about the HIV-positive biological parent. Biological material of HIV-positive patients always undergoes special training (washing), and then testing, and therefore it is safe for surrogate mothers. " It turns out that the mother “didn’t suffer”б because she agreed to bear a child for an HIV-infected donor under the signature, and the medical center ignores the fact that the court found the actions of the EMC unlawful. The check revealed a whole bunch of violations. In particular, the cards lack information on the preparation of surrogate mothers and donors for IVF, there are no protocols for their implementation. All cards do not contain the conclusion of the completed treatment. Evaluation of the possibility of using biological material from HIV-infected patients in ART programs requires an expert opinion from an infectious disease doctor, which was also absent. The status of single fathers should also be regulated…"

The court sees this case unequivocally:

“When examining the materials of the case, the court did not establish the grounds for the release of the society from liability, the latter did not take all measures depending on it to comply with the rules and norms, for violation of which the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for administrative liability, while the society has the ability to comply with these norms was available".

The judge states that due to the actions or inaction of doctors for surrogate mothers, a threat to health has arisen:

“The argument of society that there is no legal ban on the provision of ART services to single men, and this procedure does not entail a threat to the life and health of people, is rejected by the court. In this case, we are talking not just about single men, but about HIV-infected, which is reflected in the inspection report, so there is a threat to life and health".

Judge A.B. Polyakova considered all the arguments of the EMC and rejected them, recognizing them as an attempt to evade responsibility.

The European Medical Center speaks about one case when a surrogate mother was not properly notified about an HIV-infected father, and it happened 5 years ago. Meanwhile, the court's decision deals with several cases. We asked the Territorial Healthcare Supervision Authority for Moscow and the Moscow Region to clarify this case and inform our readers about the results of the autumn audit. Hopefully, this case was an isolated one, and it did not repeat itself in the five years preceding the inspection by the supervisory authority.

The court found the European Medical Center guilty and fined him 100 thousand rubles. When we asked whether the perpetrators were punished, the press service of the EMC said that the doctor who committed this violation was not working at the center at the time of the check. It turns out that there is no one to punish. From the letter, we also understood that no one is going to make any changes to the procedure for selecting candidates for surrogacy at the European Medical Center. "The procedure for selecting patients to participate in the surrogacy program for biological parents and for surrogate mothers is set out in the current legislation and cannot be changed by the decision of the clinic". In other words, HIV-infected people, including those from abroad, will be able to continue to become clients of the clinic.

As for surrogate mothers, or, according to the EMC, a surrogate mother, she can apply for compensation if she wants.