Husband attacks IVF clinic suspension

THE SAGA of an IVF bungle which left two women implanted with the wrong embryos descended into a bitter war of words today.

The husband of the director of the fertility clinic said the decision by hospital chiefs to close the unit and suspend his wife was "appalling".

Consultant Geeta Nargund was suspended after the blunder by a doctor and an embryologist on her staff at St George's hospital, Tooting, led to the two women receiving the wrong embryos. Both patients had emergency operations to prevent them becoming pregnant once the error was realised.

Today Dr Nargund's husband, Vinod - a consultant surgeon at St Bartholomew's hospital - said his wife had been "got at" by St George's hospital authorities because she had demanded that the staff responsible for the blunder should be disciplined.

Mr Nargund said: "What the hospital has said about her is appalling. They have suspended her without reason."

Dr Nargund was cleared of blame and praised by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for averting a crisis in its inquiry into the incident.

She has been ordered not to discuss her case while the doctor at the centre of the row has been promoted.

Her husband said: "Now they are suggesting she ran her department in an autocratic way, which in turn led to the doctor and embryologist making the mistake. But she has been exonerated by the HFEA."

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