NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — Dozens of women who say they suffered excruciating pain at a Yale University fertility clinic because a nurse stole fentanyl for her own use and replaced it with saline have reached a settlement. their lawsuits against the Ivy League school.
Patients and their attorneys announced the settlements Monday in New Haven, Conn., where Yale is based. Details of the agreements were not released, but attorneys said they include significant financial settlements.
The women say they underwent painful and invasive in vitro fertilization procedures and were to be given fentanyl at Yale University’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic in Orange, Connecticut.
Unbeknownst to them, they were given saline instead of fentanyl, and when they told staff about their extreme pain during and after the procedures, their concerns were ignored, according to lawsuits filed by the women and their husbands. They said Yale officials failed to secure supplies of the painkiller.
“I, and so many others, should never have been put in a position where I had to beg for medication. I have needlessly suffered the physical and emotional pain because of my desperation to have a family,” one of the plaintiffs, Lauren Rosenberg, said in a statement.
Yale said in a statement that the agreement “allows both parties to move forward and begin the healing process.” It also put new safeguards in place since the nurse’s actions came to light, including increased training and oversight.
In 2021, seven women filed a lawsuit against Yale. Dozens of patients later filed suit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to more than 150, including nearly 100 patients.
In May 2021, nurse Donna Monticonewho no longer works for the clinic, was sentenced to four weekends in jail, three months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product.
Prosecutors said 75% of the fentanyl given to patients at the clinic from June to October 2020 was contaminated with saline. They said Monticone replaced the fentanyl with saline to feed her addiction to the opioid. She apologized to affected patients during her sentencing hearing.
The lawsuits accused Yale officials of failing to follow mandatory pharmacy protocols and leaving vials of fentanyl vulnerable to tampering. The lawsuits also alleged that Yale violated state and federal laws by storing more than 175 vials of fentanyl in an unattended and unlocked area, and that it failed to take security measures, including providing drug testing personnel with access to opioids.
The lawsuits include civil allegations of medical maltreatment and medical negligence, alleging that hundreds of patients may have been unknowingly treated with saline instead of fentanyl at the clinic.