Fertility Scandal
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Who is Diane Porter and why did she seek fertility treatment at UCI?
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My sister, she called me and she said, did you hear about your fertility doctor? She goes, there's something going on with him. It's all over the news. And I'm like, well, what's it about? She said, well, he's being accused of stealing patients' eggs.
Welcome to The Knife. I'm Patia Eaton. Today I'm speaking with a woman named Diane Porter. Diane and her husband sought out fertility treatment to start their family back in the early 1990s. They traveled from their home in Nebraska to see Dr. Ricardo Ashe. At the time, he was one of the country's most celebrated fertility doctors. But something deeply disturbing was happening behind closed doors. And as whistleblowers began to speak, a web of alleged fraud and medical misconduct emerged. This is the story of the UCI fertility scandal and the patients who discovered that the people they trusted with their most personal dream may have betrayed them. Let's get into the interview. Hi, Diane. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
Well, thanks
for having me. So I'd love to start out with a little bit, just if you could introduce yourself.
Oh, sure. My name's Diane Porter. I live in Nebraska. Been here now 37 years. I originally was born and raised in Southern California, and I have a husband still and three kids. My oldest is seven years older than my twins. So not real close in age, but of course the twins are.
Before we get into the whole story, take me back to the chapter of your life just before you contact doctors at UC Irvine. Tell me a little bit about your relationship and your future plans.
Oh, okay. Well, my husband, back in 1976, I did not know him then, broke his neck playing football. And we met and decided to marry.
Diane's husband is Budge Porter. Budge is a third-generation Nebraska football player. In April of 1976, Budge was 20 years old, when during a spring practice for the University of Nebraska, he made a tackle that resulted in a catastrophic spinal cord injury, one that left him paralyzed.
He's considered a quadriplegic. He's kind of a unique quadriplegic in that he did have return of some use of his body and muscles, about 10% return. So he is able, through a lot of therapy, be able to drive, work. He could even write. So he came a long way with a lot of work. And I met him about nine years after his injury. And mistakenly, when I first met him, did not realize this was a permanent thing. And I had no clue when I met him that this was something that was not gonna get better, that this was as good as it was gonna get, actually. So, but he did pretty well with what function he had left.
Budge and Diane met in 1984. They fell in love and in 1989, they got married. They bought a home in Nebraska and Budge made a successful career for himself as a stockbroker. Budge and Diane knew they wanted to start a family.
We knew there'd be difficulty with fertility right from the get-go, right when we got married, because at that time, in 1989, the technology really wasn't there. So we came to the conclusion, well, we won't probably have children. But then later on, as things advanced, we found out that there was a possibility of having children. The technology had grown and matured, and we decided that to look into it with these two doctors that we ended up dealing with to have hopefully a chance to have children.
So how did you then go about finding a doctor in Southern California?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Diane Porter and why did she seek fertility treatment at UCI?
0:01–7:46
2
What was the IVF process like for Diane and Budge at Dr. Ricardo Asch’s clinic?
7:46–14:18
3
Why did Diane only receive 20 eggs when her ultrasound showed over 60?
14:18–21:19
4
How did the first embryo transfer turn out and what were the results?
21:19–28:39
5
When and how did the UCI fertility scandal first come to Diane’s attention?
28:39–35:40
6
What evidence showed that Dr. Asch had taken patients’ eggs without consent?
35:40–42:11
7
How did Diane and her husband pursue legal action and what was the outcome?
42:11–47:59
8
What lasting impact has the scandal had on Diane’s family and on fertility regulation?
47:59–55:24