Deadline reports Daisy Ridley, best known for playing Rey in the J.J. AbramsStar Wars trilogy, has been tapped to star in The Better Liar, a drama series based on Tanen Jones‘ book of the same name, in development at Amazon. Ridley will also executive-produce the adaptation, along with True Blood writer Raelle Tucker, who will script the show as well. The Better Liar, per Amazon, follows “a woman who hires a lookalike in an effort to conceal her sister’s death and claim their shared inheritance,” but “her deception exposes a web of dangerous secrets”…
She’s a cool mom: Girls5eva star Busy Phillips is the latest addition to the cast of Tina Fey‘s movie adaptation of her hit Broadway musical Mean Girls, according to Entertainment Tonight. Philipps will play the mother of Plastics leader Regina George, the role originated in the first Mean Girls film by Amy Poehler. Phillips joins previously announced cast members Jenna Fischer, Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Fey, Tim Meadows, Avantika, Christopher Briney and Bebe Wood. The first Mean Girls film in 2004 grossed over $130 million worldwide…
Kristen Bell is set to star in a new comedy series headed to Netflix from Modern Family creator Steve Levitan and Erin Foster, co-creator and star of VH-1’s Barely Famous, according to Variety. The as-yet untitled series is said to center on “the unlikely relationship between an irreverent, outspoken, agnostic woman — played by Bell — and an unconventional rabbi,” per the streamer…
Fox has given a third season renewal to Rick & Morty co-creator Dan Harmon’s upcoming animated comedy Krapopolis, according to Deadline. Additionally, the premiere of the show — most recently set for May — has now been pushed to the 2023-2024 season. Billed as the first-ever animated series curated entirely on the Blockchain, Krapopolis, which features the voices of Ted Lasso Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham and What We Do in the Shadows star Matt Berry, will center on “a flawed family of humans, gods and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.” Susan Sarandon, Will Forte, Michael Urie, Jane Lynch, Amber Stevens West, Yvette Nicole Brown and Dave Franco are set to guest star…
When it comes to Kim Petras‘ dream collaboration, the answer is simple — Madonna.
The “Unholy” singer attended the the Billboard Women in Music on Wednesday, and when asked if the icon would make an appearance on her upcoming album, she told Entertainment Tonight, “I would die to.”
“I would die to have Madonna on anything, or be on anything Madonna, so yeah, absolutely,” she added.
Whether or not a collaboration comes to pass, Petras confessed that she’s “such a huge fan” of the Queen of Pop and is thankful for her support.
“I don’t know how good of a friend I can be to her because I’m just like, ‘Confession[s]: Ray of Light changed my life,'” she shared. “Every time I see her, I just talk about her music and how much it means to me, but it’s just been the most incredible thing for me to get respected by Madonna, and for her to even know anything about me is just…”
(NEW YORK) — Two survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre became Ghanaian citizens, the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, Inc. announced on Tuesday.
Viola Ford Fletcher, 108, and Hughes Van Ellis, 102, are the oldest African Americans to be granted citizenship in Ghana.
“The Justice for Greenwood Foundation was proud to stand in solidarity with the survivors, celebrating their resilience and their contribution to the history of Black Oklahoma,” the organization wrote on Facebook.
A mob of white vigilantes destroyed Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood, known at the time as “Black Wall Street” due to its wealth and successful business enterprises, in 1921. The racist violence killed at least 300 people, wounded thousands and destroyed some 35 acres of commercial and residential property.
Fletcher and Ellis are two of three living survivors, with Fletcher being the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Ellis and Fletcher, alongside the third survivor Lessie Benningfield Randle, sued Tulsa and the local government in 2021 for a reparations fund.
In May, an Oklahoma judge ruled that the lawsuit could move forward.
Some officials are hesitant to pay monetary reparations to the victims and their families seeking restitution.
“I am not opposed to cash payments to descendants and the victims. It’s where the money comes from that for me is important,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, who led the effort to help find missing Tulsa victims, told ABC News last year, before adding that he is ”opposed to levying a tax on this generation of Tulsans who are at no fault.”
Fletcher told ABC News last year that she and her family never returned to Tulsa after they fled the night of May 31, 1921. Her home had been ravaged by fire, leaving her and hundreds of others without any of their possessions and livelihoods.
“There wasn’t anything to come back to,” she told ABC News last year.
(SANTA ROSA, Calif.) — One teenager was killed and another was wounded in a stabbing at a California high school on Wednesday, authorities said.
The incident unfolded around 11 a.m. PT at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, about 55 miles north of San Francisco. The Santa Rosa Police Department received 911 calls about a fight between students and dispatched officers to the scene. Upon arrival minutes later, the officers found two male students — both juniors — who had been stabbed but were “alert and conscious,” according to Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan.
Cregan said the officers determined through an initial investigation that the two juniors had entered a classroom and engaged in a physical altercation with another male student — a freshman. There were 27 students, one teacher and three teacher’s aides inside the classroom at the time. As an initial fight broke out, the teacher and aides intervened. But moments later, the fight continued and that’s when the freshman allegedly pulled out a knife, stabbing the two juniors, according to Cregan.
Both juniors then left the classroom to assess their injuries and seek help from the school nurse before police arrived on scene. The officers learned that the 15-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, had fled the school after the incident, Cregan said.
One of the victims appeared to have sustained three stab wounds to his upper body, while the other had one stab wound to his left hand. Officers provided initial medical aid before both students were transported to a local hospital. One of them — a 16-year-old boy — later died at the hospital, while the other was treated and is expected to survive, according to Cregan. The victims’ identities have not yet been released.
With the help of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, police searched the area for the suspect. Authorities eventually received a tip from witnesses that the teen was hiding in a creek behind Saint Eugene’s Cathedral School.
“Our officers scoured that area and were able to locate a 15-year-old juvenile who was hiding in the creek bed there, who was laying down on his stomach, trying to conceal himself,” Cregan said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. “Officers slowed down, they used restraint, they didn’t use any force and they were safely able to take this young man into custody.”
The suspect did not have any weapons in his possession when he was arrested. Police continue to look for the knife that was allegedly used in the assault, according to Cregan, who described the weapon as a folding knife with a black handle and an approximately 4- to 5-inch blade.
Cregan said it was unclear what had caused the suspect to bring the knife to school that day and there was also no evidence to suggest that the two victims were armed during the fight. The incident and a potential motive remains under investigation.
“It’s very early in the investigation, but it appears there had been some previous altercations between these students,” the police chief told reporters. “That’ll be one of the things that our investigators are looking into and we’re looking for students that may have information about that, to come forward to the Santa Rosa Police Department. Another thing that we’re seeking is any videos that students may have recorded of this incident.”
During Wednesday’s press conference, a teenage girl in the crowd who identified herself as a Montgomery High School senior spoke up to voice her frustration. She alleged that school officials “didn’t do anything” about the previous problems between the students.
“It’s their job to keep us safe,” she said. “It’s just disappointing. It really is.”
There are currently no metal detectors at Montgomery High School nor any school within the district, according to Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Anna Trunnell.
“We do talk regularly to our students about safety and about caring for each other on campus. But we do not have anything that detects those kinds of weapons on campus right now,” Trunnell said during the press conference. “We are going to be assessing how we approach supporting our students and making sure that they know that this is a safe place, and we will be examining how exactly we are going to do that.”
“This is truly a sad day,” she added. “The tragedy that happened here today is heartbreaking.”
The Santa Rosa Police Department does not currently have a school resource officer stationed at Montgomery High School nor any Santa Rosa school — a decision that the police chief said was made by the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education.
“As chief, it’s something that I’ve advocated for us to return to, but we can’t do that without the support of your Santa Rosa school board,” Cregan said.
“We work very closely with the school here and will be looking at how we can partner in some of the school safety to ensure that all students in Santa Rosa are able to come to school in a safe environment,” he added. “My daughter is a Santa Rosa school student and goes to a Santa Rosa school, and I care personally about making sure that we have a safe school campus.”
(NEW YORK) — It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Mia Brookes making history at the Snowboarding Freestyle World Championships!
The 16-year-old freestyle snowboarder became the youngest ever snowboarding world champion in Bakuriani on Monday.
But that’s not all. In order to clinch the gold medal spot, Brookes, who is British, delivered a history-making second run and executed the first-ever cab 1440 double grab — four full frontside rotations while grabbing the board — completed in a women’s snowboarding competition.
“I’m just really, really happy — like, I’ve never been so happy in my life. I feel like I’m going to cry!” Brookes said after completing the highly difficult slopestyle trick. “I actually can’t believe [I did the cab 1440]. When I did it, I wasn’t sure I’d managed it, but I thought about it and was like … yep, I’ve done a 14!”
Brookes earned a winning score of 91.38 on her final run, beating New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who won the gold medal in women’s slopestyle and the silver in big air at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Brookes, who was too young to compete in Beijing, has only participated in three World Cup events prior to winning this year’s world championships.
GB Snowsport head coach Pat Sharples praised the young boarder’s immense talent.
“What Mia’s done out here today is just next level,” Sharples told the press after the competition. “We all know Mia’s got the talent, but this is her first season on the WC circuit and her first World championships so to land a run like that with all the pressure of a World Championships tells you everything you need to know about her.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) traces back to 1974 and touts itself as “the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world,” but observers say its attendance list this year — and those who chose not to attend — reflect broader debates over the identity of the GOP as the next presidential primary takes shape.
The gathering, a longtime window into the grassroots of the Republican Party, in recent years has morphed into a prominent stage for allies of former President Donald Trump and is anticipated to heavily promote his platform this week, including offering him a prime time speaking slot Saturday.
Yet as other current and potential 2024 presidential candidates flock to Maryland’s National Harbor to address activists at the conference, which began Wednesday, over a half-dozen prospective contenders are instead choosing to keep their distance.
Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, all of whom are either running or have said they are mulling a 2024 bid, are slated to speak at CPAC. Current lawmakers on the schedule include firebrand Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Former lawmakers include some of those outside the U.S., like former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican Arizona gubernatorial nominee and election conspiracy theorist, is also slated to speak.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who are seen as possible 2024 hopefuls, are among those staying away — with some opting instead to attend a donor retreat hosted by the anti-tax Club for Growth.
“Ten years ago, [CPAC] was an opportunity to test your messages to conservative leaders and influencers all over the country and to have a big audience get to know you from the podium. And I don’t think that’s where it is today,” said one aide to a possible 2024 candidate. “Last time I was there, it almost felt more like a college crowd than it did a serious thinker crowd.”
CPACs of yesteryear featured notable moments, including Ronald Reagan’s “city upon a hill” speech, and strategists who spoke with ABC News, who asked not to be quoted by name, reminisced about past conferences they said offered a more representative cross-section of Republican voters.
Defenders of the conference counter that CPAC still offers a marketplace of ideas.
“Traditionally you’ve always had your libertarian conservatives, your free market, laissez fair-type of conservatives, you had your hawks and foreign affair guys, you’d have your Rand Paul-libertarian types. Now you have your MAGA types, and then you have your ultra MAGA types. I think CPAC is a classic example of growing pains,” said former Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis, who first attended CPAC in 1978 and has been to almost every conference since.
But given that, the benefits of attending, even for those eyeing a presidential campaign and activist support, could be diminished, the strategists said.
“Now it’s kind of turned into a one-trick pony,” said a source familiar with Pence’s thinking. “It’s not like where it was 20 years ago, where it was conservatives from all over the country who were influencers from all the different states.”
When reached by ABC News to explain DeSantis’ absence from CPAC, an aide said he was instead attending GOP dinners elsewhere.
The person declined to comment further when asked why the Florida governor chose to attend those events, including the Club for Growth retreat, over CPAC.
Candidates who travel to CPAC also have to contend with the prospect of being tied to an event helmed by Matt Schlapp, the conference’s chairman, who is currently mired in controversy.
A former staffer to Herschel Walker’s 2022 Senate bid has alleged that Schlapp “groped” and “fondled” his crotch while he was driving Schlapp back from a bar in Atlanta, according to a report from The Daily Beast. The staffer also filed a lawsuit against Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes, seeking $9.4 million for sexual battery and defamation, according to a report.
A statement from Schlapp’s attorney at the time said the complaint is “false” and the “Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter lawsuit options.”
The source familiar with Pence’s thinking told ABC News for this story that the decision to not attend was made before the allegations about Schlapp emerged, but Anuzis, the longtime CPAC attendee, said the scandal could be a factor in deciding whether to appear.
“There’ll be some people who I think are taken aback by that and will want to be cautious about participating in one way or the other, and that’s just the way politics works,” he said. “He’s a potential liability at this stage of the game and so it’s safer for some folks who are really worried about that to stay away.”
GOP strategist Doug Heye put it this way: “The most valuable asset any candidate or potential candidate has is their time. And so they’re making very real decisions, whether it’s on this or certainly moving forward on other things, on where they’re spending their time.”
“Obviously, the Club [for Growth, holding its own event] has become a bigger and bigger funder on the Republican side, and if you’re running for president or if you’re running for Senate, that’s an important audience for you to address,” Heye said.
CPAC organizers, meanwhile, brushed off any perceived snubs.
“It’s a missed opportunity for any potential Presidential Candidate to not address the thousands of grassroots activists at CPAC this year. Luckily, CPAC attendees will get to hear from every announced Presidential candidate and over 100 premiere speakers, including over 30 elected officials,” CPAC spokesperson Megan Powers Small told ABC News on Saturday.
And for its part, Trump’s campaign is seizing on the way the former president has shaped CPAC, casting it as a sign of his continued hold on the GOP as he ramps up his third presidential campaign.
“CPAC is the embodiment of the conservative movement as well as the Republican Party. … The conference has always represented the ‘springboard’ for the presidential primary season, and President Trump’s outsized influence at this year’s conference combined with recent polling success shows just how dominant his candidacy is as we approach 2024,” said Trump senior adviser Jason Miller.
Yet should would-be candidates continue to avoid CPAC, operatives said that could change the media perception of the event which could result in fewer headlines.
“One of the things that we’re going to have to see after the fact is, how much coverage does all of this get?” Heye said. “If you’re not getting that, it makes it easier to potentially turn down.”
“It has certainly morphed into more of an event that is just giving rally speeches to a crowd, and that had proven to be popular. But at a certain point, there are diminishing returns,” he added. “There are obviously greater concerns about how effective of a tool this has been and whether or not it’s a political version of the Star Trek convention.”
(NEW YORK) — An emergency room doctor is opening up about “one of the most interesting cases” she’s seen in her career so far and, in the process, warning people about wire grill brush injuries.
Dr. Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, opened up about the case in a Feb. 18 TikTok post and since then, it’s gone viral, garnering over 34 million views in less than two weeks.
“One of the most interesting cases that I’ve had to date was a 4-year-old boy who was at a barbecue eating when he suddenly grabbed his ear and started crying, complaining of ear pain,” Martin said in her two-minute video.
Martin, who aims to share accessible pediatric health information on social media, went on to describe how she and other doctors responded to the case and eventually unraveled the medical mystery.
“We did a [CT scan] of the neck, which included the ears with contrast, and we did a ton of labs, gave him fluids, just did every test that we could think of doing. And we got our answer on the [CT scan],” she continued.
In an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America, Martin said the case stretched over several days because doctors had first thought they had an idea of what was going on.
“One of the things that I didn’t share in the TikTok was that the initial complaint was actually a bee sting to the ear and that was one of the reasons that we were focusing on that area so much,” she said.
Martin and her team figured out the culprit of the boy’s pain had been a metal piece of a wire from a grill brush that had somehow found its way into the food he had eaten.
“We ended up seeing a small foreign body in the neck that was a grill brush wire and it had created a little abscess around itself because it was a small foreign body in the neck,” Martin explained. “We consulted the ear, nose and throat surgeon who was able to remove it successfully and the kid recovered beautifully. But in the end, we found out that that grill brush had been in the hamburger that he’d been eating at the time.”
The boy was able to make a full recovery after surgery and treatment, according to Martin, who noted the case was one she saw a couple of years ago and was the first case she saw where a wire injury affected the neck area.
Although Martin called this incident an “exceptionally rare case,” she added that she’s seen at least three similar cases as an ER doctor and recommends that people consider avoiding metal grill brushes completely, if possible.
“When it comes to grill brushes, there are multiple safe options on the market right now,” Martin said. “There are wooden grill brushes, there are ones that are like sponges or scrubbers, there’s even sprays that you can use and then just wipe off the grill. So there are lots of other opportunities to clean your grill, rather than using these [wire brushes] that can be dangerous.”
In addition, Martin suggested people get checked by a medical professional if they experience any pain or other symptoms after eating food off a grill.
“If anyone is eating something that just came off the grill and all of a sudden they have pain, or maybe in the next couple of days they develop some symptoms … they’re vomiting, they have really bad abdominal pain, it is something to think about to get an X-ray or some other imaging modality that can check to see if there was a piece of a wire that was lodged in the food that they ate,” Martin said.
(NEW YORK) — A major cross-country storm that first brought blizzard conditions to California is now heading to Nevada and Arizona before taking aim on the South.
In the wake of the storm, Yosemite National Park is buried under 15 feet of snow and is closed indefinitely.
Near Lake Tahoe, California, an avalanche buried the first two stories of a three-story apartment building Tuesday night. No injuries were reported, according to the Placer County sheriff.
In San Bernardino County, California, where some residents are stranded, officials said Wednesday, “Our No. 1 priority is to get our residents the food, the medicine and access that they need. Plowing is going to continue over the course of the next several days.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in 13 counties hit by the severe winter weather and activated the California National Guard to help support operations.
As the storm marches east, winter storm warnings are in effect north of Las Vegas and extend to the Mexican border.
Tucson, Arizona, is under a winter weather advisory. Tucson residents could get the same amount of snow that New York City saw on Tuesday.
This storm then will move into the Heartland, bringing a severe weather outbreak on Thursday and Friday.
First, an enhanced risk for severe weather has been issued from Texas to Tennessee, where very large hail, damaging winds and strong tornadoes are possible through the evening.
Then comes the major threat on Thursday when strong tornadoes are possible and winds could top 70 mph. Cities in the bull’s-eye on Thursday include Dallas, Little Rock, Texarkana and Shreveport.
Heavy rain could lead to flash flooding from Oklahoma to Tennessee.
This severe weather moves into the southeast on Friday, with Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas in the storm zone.
By Friday afternoon, that same storm system will bring snow or a wintry mix from Chicago to New York City, and heavy rain to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
(CHICAGO) — A Chicago police officer was shot and killed Wednesday while responding to a call about a person with a firearm, according to the Chicago Police Department.
The officer was shot multiple times while exchanging gunfire with a suspect, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said during a news conference Wednesday evening.
The officer, who was on the force for five years, succumbed to his injuries at Mt. Sinai Hospital, the superintendent said.
The suspect, who police say is an 18-year-old, was shot in the head and is critically injured, Brown added.
Police said the suspect only had a single prior violation before Wednesday’s shooting.
“Every officer in this police department, and for that matter, every officer in this country is grieving today,” Brown said.
“If you see an officer tonight, or the next day, or the day after that, thank them for their service,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was also at the press conference, said.
(LOS ANGELES) — A couple has filed a lawsuit against a California-based fertility clinic alleging the clinic transplanted an embryo with a cancer mutation during in vitro fertilization, despite the couple specifically cautioning against it.
Melissa and Jason Diaz allege in their lawsuit, filed this week in Los Angeles, that the fertility clinic they used, HRC Fertility, has a “tragic pattern” of using genetic material like eggs, sperm and embryos “in a manner contrary to its patients’ instructions” and concealed material information from its customers.
The Diazes claim that, in their case, less than one year after their son was born, they discovered he had the CDH1 mutation for hereditary diffuse gastric cancer, a genetic disease that increases the risk for a specific form of stomach cancer known as diffuse gastric cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Five years ago, in 2018, Jason Diaz, then 32, was diagnosed with diffuse gastric cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy, followed by a gastrectomy, or stomach-removal surgery. Genetic testing later confirmed that Jason Diaz, who has a family history of gastric cancer, carried the CDH1 mutation, according to the lawsuit.
Jason Diaz said in a news conference Wednesday that he and his wife specifically chose to undergo IVF to have children in order to have testing that would help them avoid passing the CDH1 mutation to their child.
“I wouldn’t want anyone on earth to experience this type of pain and now I will be forced to watch my own son, my own flesh and blood, go through this after Melissa and I worked so hard to protect him,” Jason Diaz said. “Every day my heart is hurting for my baby boy, knowing the pain and challenges he has ahead of him.”
The Diazes say they told the clinic and the doctor named in the lawsuit, HRC Fertility and reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Bradford A. Kolb, that they had chosen IVF to prevent having a child with the CDH1 mutation. According to the lawsuit, the couple also had their embryos screened for the BRCA-1 breast cancer mutation, which Melissa Diaz carries.
“Dr. Kolb knew from the time of his first visit with them, on December 12, 2018, that they intended to avoid passing on this rare mutation for stomach cancer,” the lawsuit states. “Jason and Melissa’s genetic counselor sent reports regarding testing for the specific mutations directly to Dr. Kolb in 2019.”
The couple claim in the lawsuit that Melissa Diaz had her eggs retrieved in 2020, and those eggs were used to create embryos that were tested for the CDH1 and BRCA-1 genes.
In August 2020, according to the lawsuit, Kolb transferred one embryo that did not have either mutation, but that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
In January 2021, Melissa Diaz underwent a second embryo transfer, which resulted in the birth of her son. The Diazes were told that embryo did not have the CDH1 gene, when records later showed that it did, according to the lawsuit.
“HRC [Fertility] told us that we had one male embryo that had my BRCA-1 mutation and not the stomach cancer mutation,” Melissa Diaz said in the news conference Wednesday. “That embryo was going to be our plan B because the BRACA mutation causes breast and ovarian cancer, so the likelihood of it negatively impacting a boy was significantly less than a girl.”
She continued, “So in January 2021, we informed HRC that we wanted to proceed with the male embryo that HRC told us only had the BRCA-1 mutation.”
The couple claim in the lawsuit that they discovered the alleged error last July, when Melissa Diaz received a copy of her embryo report as they prepared for another embryo transfer for a second child.
“To her horror, Melissa also recognized the first embryo — clearly designated as carrying the mutant allele for hereditary diffuse gastric cancer — as the embryo transferred on January 8, 2021,” the lawsuit states. “Embryo #1 had become her beloved infant son.”
The Diazes claim in the lawsuit that HRC Fertility later presented them with “falsified records” that covered up handwritten notes showing which embryo had been transferred.
“HRC Fertility’s falsified records from October 2022 are evidence of HRC Fertility’s knowledge of and intent to hide its misconduct,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also states that HRC Fertility later provided the records that included the handwritten notes in December 2022.
The Diazes say they have simultaneously filed an arbitration claim regarding the wrongful transfer of the embryo.
The lawsuit announced this week is aimed at what is described in the complaint as “HRC’s fraudulent concealment of material information to its customers — more particularly, the fact that HRC Fertility has a long history of misusing its customers’ biological material, in direct contradiction to its customers’ instructions.”
“Moreover, it concealed that its processes and procedures are insufficient to prevent such grave errors,” the lawsuit states. “Had it made such disclosures, Jason and Melissa never would have entrusted HRC Fertility and Doctor Kolb with their genetic material.”
The Diazes are suing for monetary damages and injunctive relief and are seeking a trial by jury, according to the lawsuit.
In addition to HRC Fertility and the couple’s medical provider, Kolb, one additional HRC Fertility employee, identified as the clinic’s IVF coordinator, is also named in the lawsuit.
HRC Fertility told ABC News in a statement it “stands by the professionalism and expertise of our medical staff.”
“At HRC Fertility, our mission is to provide world-class care to all our patients struggling with parenthood. The family planning journey requires many difficult choices. We take all of our patients’ choices and concerns very seriously and are committed to providing the highest quality of care,” the statement said. “We deeply empathize with this family’s situation. However, the patients associated with the case sought genetic testing and genetic counseling outside of HRC Fertility, and with an outside party; they wished to have a male embryo transferred, which we carried out according to the family’s explicit wishes and in accordance with the highest level of care.”
“At HRC Fertility, our mission is to provide quality and compassionate care to all our patients struggling with parenthood and we understand that family planning requires many difficult choices,” the statement continued. “We offer a variety of fertility procedures so all families, regardless of challenges, can have the opportunity to become parents. We have successfully helped thousands of individuals, couples and families become loving parents, including the patients involved in this story.”
“We also stand by the professionalism and expertise of our medical staff and pride ourselves on adhering to the highest standards for patient care, patient records, results, and testing at all our locations,” the statement added. “Since 1988, we have remained dedicated to helping hopeful parents build families through assisted reproductive technology, compassion, expertise, innovation, cutting-edge research and personalized care.”
Melissa Diaz said Wednesday she and her husband are hopeful they will have a second child, but will be on guard more through the process.
“I’m very scared and nervous to go through it again to try to have a second baby, but this time, I will ask my questions. I will double check,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking that it had to come to this, but just be aware of what’s going on with your own body, what they’re trying to do with your body.”
