Aggregated News
Federal prosecutors were surprised to learn this week that Dr. Ricardo Asch, who was being held in Mexico City for extradition to the United States on charges stemming from a fertility clinic scandal that rocked UC Irvine and the world of reproductive medicine 16 years ago, has been freed from custody.
Informed of the release by The Times, officials said Tuesday they were seeking an explanation from Mexico about the handling the extradition.
"We still expect the authorities in Mexico to give full consideration to our request" to return Asch, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Douglas McCormick, the prosecutor on the case.
Asch, who headed the internationally acclaimed Center for Reproductive Health, fled the United States in 1995 amid allegations that he and his partner, Dr. Jose Balmaceda, took eggs and embryos from patients without their consent and gave them to other women. Balmaceda fled to his native Chile.
Described at the time as an unprecedented breach of medical ethics, the fertility fraud led to the live births of at least 15 children and lawsuits by couples whose lives were...
Informed of the release by The Times, officials said Tuesday they were seeking an explanation from Mexico about the handling the extradition.
"We still expect the authorities in Mexico to give full consideration to our request" to return Asch, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Douglas McCormick, the prosecutor on the case.
Asch, who headed the internationally acclaimed Center for Reproductive Health, fled the United States in 1995 amid allegations that he and his partner, Dr. Jose Balmaceda, took eggs and embryos from patients without their consent and gave them to other women. Balmaceda fled to his native Chile.
Described at the time as an unprecedented breach of medical ethics, the fertility fraud led to the live births of at least 15 children and lawsuits by couples whose lives were...