Spokane fertility doctor denies allegations of professional misconduct

The owner of a Spokane fertility clinic has been accused by state investigators of pushing costly pregnancy options on patients who didn’t need them and signing off on damaging lab errors.

The attorney for Dr. Edwin Robins, who owns and operates The Center for Reproductive Health, said the doctor denied all allegations of professional misconduct.

“Dr. Robins is a compassionate physician,” said Steve Lamberson, the Spokane-based attorney representing Robins against the allegations. “He’s helped thousands of his patients accomplish one of the most important things in their life, and that’s to have a baby.”

An investigation into Robins’ practice by the Medical Quality Assurance Commission dates back to 2012, when a patient came forward alleging her husband was misdiagnosed with a sperm defect. The patient said Robins suggested in vitro fertilization, a treatment plan that can cost up to $9,000, over artificial insemination. Insemination costs a few hundred dollars.

The sperm defect turned out to be a false positive. The lab tests were handled by Robins’ wife, who works as a technician in his clinic. The complaint also alleges the lab mislabeled the woman’s embryos that would be used in fertilization, resulting in impregnating the patient with an embryo known to have the gene defect that produces Down syndrome. That pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

Lamberson said Robins’ wife was hired as a phlebotomist at the clinic before her relationship with the doctor began. She possessed all the training required for her job and had no findings of deficient job performance by the Joint Commission, a national nonprofit that accredits health facilities including fertility clinics, Lamberson said.

“Before this came up, they never questioned her duties or her background,” Lamberson said.

Robins’ wife was also involved in the lab procedures for a second patient, whose charts lacked basic notes and information, including consent forms to freeze embryos for later transfer in a process known as “embryo banking,” according to the allegations from the Medical Quality Assurance Commission.

Both women who filed complaints later successfully conceived children through sex or treatment at another fertility clinic, according to a statement of charges filed by the commission. A statement of charges is filed after investigators examine complaints to determine if enough evidence exists to impose potential sanctions on a doctor, which could include suspension of a license or fines. A health care professional can then answer those charges and request a settlement hearing to determine what, if any, penalties will be imposed.

The statement also includes an allegation that Robins failed to provide statistics on his clinic’s success rate of freezing embryos for later transfer to a mother, as required under federal law. Lamberson said his client provided all the required statistics to the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology, who compiles the data shown on the clinic’s website.

“Dr. Robins has excellent pregnancy rates, some of the top in the country,” Lamberson said. “He surely did not do anything to falsely advertise or mislead anyone.”

Lamberson said his client would “aggressively” fight the allegations of professional misconduct, and that he would be requesting a future hearing date to contest the charges.