NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — 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 settled their lawsuits against the Ivy League school.
Patients and their lawyers announced the settlements Monday in New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale is based. Details of the agreements were not released, but lawyers said they included significant financial settlements.
“What should have been a hopeful and joyous time ... turned into a traumatic experience," said Soryorelis Henry, one of the plaintiffs. "No one should ever have to endure what we went through. My hope is that this case leads to systemic changes and ensures no other patient experiences such suffering.”
The women say they underwent painful and invasive procedures for in vitro fertilization and were supposed to receive fentanyl at the Yale University Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility clinic in Orange, Connecticut, and its prior location in New Haven.
Unbeknownst to them, they received saline instead of fentanyl, and when they told staff of their extreme pain during and after the procedures, their concerns were dismissed, according to lawsuits filed by the women and their spouses. They said Yale officials failed to safeguard supplies of the painkiller.
Yale said in a statement that the agreement “allows both parties to move forward and begin healing,” adding that it has instituted new safeguards since discovering the nurse’s actions, including more training and supervision.
Seven women initially sued Yale in 2021. Dozens more patients later came forward and filed lawsuits, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to more than 150, including nearly 100 patients. Many of them say they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because of what happened to them.
Shannon Garfield said she had her first IVF treatment at Yale's clinic in 2019. She went on to have several more procedures that led to the birth of her son, who is now 1.
“I was completely awake and in so much pain, as I was crying and yelling,” she said at the news conference. “It’s horrible to think of how many countless victims there are, and this further exemplifies a system where women’s voices don’t seem to matter.”
In May 2021, nurse Donna Monticone, who no longer works for the clinic, was sentenced to four weekends in prison, 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 adulterated by saline. They said Monticone replaced the fentanyl with saline to feed her addiction to the opioid. She apologized to the affected patients during her sentencing hearing.
Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monticone’s misconduct with fentanyl went on for multiple years.
“Yale University providers ignored the anguished cries of women undergoing these treatments,” he said. “And for over two years, nobody asked a very simple question. Why? Why were so many women who didn’t know each other … experiencing this excruciating pain akin to torture, for a procedure that Yale University itself promoted as being of minimal or no discomfort?”
The lawsuits accused Yale officials of failing to follow mandated pharmacy protocols and allowing vials of fentanyl to be vulnerable to tampering. The suits also alleged Yale violated state and federal laws by keeping more than 175 vials of fentanyl in an unsupervised and unlocked area, and failed to implement safeguards including drug testing staff with access to opioids.
The lawsuits included civil allegations of medical assault and battery and medical malpractice. They said hundreds of patients potentially were unknowingly treated with saline instead of fentanyl at the clinic.
Attorney Kelly Fitzpatrick, right, hugs plaintiff Soryorelis Henry, foreground right, after a news conference in New Haven, CT, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, where 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 settled their lawsuits against the Ivy League school. (AP Photo/Dave Collins)
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.
CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change, and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Frequently criticizing what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” He has never served in government, but has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty.
Consideration of Wright to head the administration's energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if reelected.
Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's top lobbying group, said Wright’s experience in the energy sector “gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership" of the Energy Department.
“We look forward to working with him once confirmed to bolster American geopolitical strength by lifting DOE’s pause on LNG export permits and ensuring the open access of American energy for our allies around the world," Sommers said.
Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called Wright “a champion of dirty fossil fuels" and said his nomination to lead the Energy Department was “a disastrous mistake.”
“The Energy Department should be doing all it can to develop and expand the energy sources of the 21st century, not trying to promote the dirty fuels of the last century," Wong said. “Given the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters, DOE’s core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever."
The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. The agency is in charge of maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons, oversees 17 national research laboratories and approves natural gas exports, as well as ensuring environmental cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. It also promotes scientific and technological research.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.
“He’s s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said.
If confirmed, Wright will join North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump's choice to be interior secretary, as a key player on energy policy in a second Trump term. Wright will be a member of a new National Energy Council that Burgum will chair. The new panel will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world, Trump said.
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be “an excellent choice” for energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.
Liberty is a major energy industry service provider, with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.
The announcement of Wright's selection came hours after a key Trump ally, billionaire Elon Musk, called for more direct public input into the decision-making process for another top post that the president-elect is still mulling, the head of his new administration's Treasury Department.
“Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback,” Musk, who Trump has already tapped to co-lead a commission tasked with increasing government spending efficiency, posted Saturday on the X social media platform he owns.
Musk used the rest of his post to become the first participant in the public poll he was proposing, endorsing Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, over hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
Musk said in his post that “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change.”
“Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change,” he said.
Both Lutnick and Bessent have been mentioned as possible picks to lead the Treasury Department. Bessent is considered the more conventional, business-friendly choice. He is skeptical about cryptocurrency, while Lutnick has suggested it could be used for people to pay their taxes.
Trump’s pick to lead his Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also endorsed Lutnick, posting on his own X account, “Bitcoin is the currency of freedom, a hedge against inflation for middle class Americans.”
Daly and Long reported from Washington.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
