Ricardo Asch

Ricardo Hector Asch (born 26 October 1947)[1] is an obstetrician, gynecologist, and endocrinologist. He worked with reproductive technology and pioneered gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), as well as working on research linking fertility and marijuana usage,[2] and investigated the use of GnRH analogues with Andrew Schally.[3][4] In the mid-1990s he was accused of transferring ova harvested from women into other patients without proper consent at the University of California, Irvine's fertility clinic. Asch left the United States one year before a federal indictment was filed.[5][6] He was tried and acquitted of all charges in Argentina in 2008.[7] In 2011 Mexico denied an extradition request by the United States as it would constitute double jeopardy and no new evidence was brought forth.[8] He is currently living in Mexico City.[9][10]

Ricardo Asch
Born
Ricardo Hector Asch

(1947-10-26) October 26, 1947
Buenos Aires, Argentina
NationalityArgentine, Mexican[1]
Occupation(s)obstetrician, gynecologist, and endocrinologist

Education and early career

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Asch studied at the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine graduating in 1971. In 1975 he moved to the United States and worked with Robert Benjamin Greenblatt at the Medical College of Georgia before his reproductive endocrinology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.[11] Among his many publications were his pioneering experience with GIFT and research on oocyte donation. In 1986 he joined the University of California, Irvine (UCI). In 1990 he became the Director of the Center for Reproductive Health of UCI heading the infertility program. Asch was named Assistant Dean of outreach at UCI, in charge of overseeing recruitment of minority students, the same year.[12] He lectured worldwide and accrued two honorary professorships by 1994.[11]

UC Irvine fertility scandal
See also: University of California, Irvine Medical Center § Controversies; and University of California, Irvine School of Medicine § History

In 1995, the Orange County Register broke the story that Asch—then Chief of the University of California, Irvine's Center for Reproductive Health—and his two partners were accused of transferring women's eggs harvested from women into other patients without their permission.[13] These eggs were fertilized and the resulting embryos transferred to these other women, some of them then conceiving.[14][15] At least 15 live births resulted from the alleged practice.[15] At that time, the misappropriation of human eggs was not legally considered a crime.[15] However, numerous civil lawsuits were filed, and UCI paid out more than $27 million to settle patient claims.[15][16] Asch disagreed with the settlements because they did not allow him to prove his innocence or repair his reputation.[1] Auditors from KPMG Peat Marwick investigated the clinic and found that almost $1 million in income at the clinic had not been reported.[17]

Asch was defended by students, and colleagues, including Robert Edwards, who accused the media of convicting him before he was charged.[1][18]

The Orange County Register's investigations into these practices led to that paper's receiving the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.[19]

In 2006, university officials admitted to the Los Angeles Times that they had not notified at least 20 women whose eggs were allegedly used by Asch and his colleagues.[20]

Aftermath

Asch and colleagues Jose Balmaceda and Sergio Stone were indicted on charges of mail fraud and income tax evasion. Asch suspended his practice, sold his properties,[21] and left for Mexico. Balmaceda escaped to Chile, while Stone stayed in the US and was convicted of insurance fraud in 1997 and paid a fine.[15] In January 1996, Asch testified at a deposition in Tijuana that university employees were responsible for errors that had occurred such as mismatching patients and failing to obtain patient consents.[22]

Asch later opened a practice in Mexico and later in Argentina. He was formally fired by the university in 2000.[23] He attained a Mexican citizenship in 2001 in addition to his native Argentine citizenship.[1]

Extradition efforts and acquittal

In 2004 Asch was arrested in Buenos Aires. He was tried in Argentina and in 2008 was acquitted of all charges.[24]

Asch was arrested again in Mexico in November 2010.[25] On December 30, 2010, the Mexican Attorney's General Office (PGR) announced on its website that it had initiated proceedings to have Asch extradited to the United States.[26] However, Asch was released on bail in early 2011.[27] Subsequently, the judge ruled that as Asch had already been tried in Argentina and acquitted, and as no new evidence was provided, the "double jeopardy" rule applied, thus Asch was free and would not be extradited to the United States.[28]

Research

Asch worked with reproductive technology and pioneered gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT),[4] a technique in which eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries, and placed in one of the Fallopian tubes, along with the man's sperm. He also worked on research linking marijuana and other drugs to hormone production, ovary function, and the effect on testicles in primates, and the possible negative effects of the usage of neuroactive drugs during adolescence and puberty.[2] Asch worked with Andrew Schally understanding the effects of the Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in infertility and contraception in primates.[3] In 1999 he worked on methods for giving birth to a healthy baby in couples with one HIV+ partner.[29]

According to Scopus, Asch has an h-index of 46, and over 6700 citations,[30] which would place him in the top 1% of researchers by citations in the Essential Science Indicators.[31]

Awards and other activities

Asch, who owned an entertainment company at the time of the scandal, was one of the producers of the Andre Agassi and Nick Bollettieri instructional tennis video Attack.[32]

See also

References
  1. Dodge, Mary; Geis, Gilbert (2003). Stealing Dreams: A Fertility Clinic Scandal. Lebanon, New Hampshire: Northeastern University Press. p. 113. ISBN 1-55553-585-2.
  2. Asch, RH; Smith, CG (1986). "Effects of delta 9-THC, the principal psychoactive component of marijuana, during pregnancy in the rhesus monkey". The Journal of Reproductive Medicine. 31 (12): 1071–81. ISSN 0024-7758. PMID 3025441.
  3. BALMACEDA, J.P.; BORGHI, M.R.; COY, D.H.; SCHALLY, A.V.; ASCH, R.H. (1983). "Suppression of Postovulatory Gonadotropin Levels Does Not Affect Corpus Luteum Function in Rhesus Monkeys". The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The Endocrine Society. 57 (4): 866–868. doi:10.1210/jcem-57-4-866. ISSN 0021-972X. PMID 6411757.
  4. Asch RH, Ellsworth LR, Balmaceda JP, Wong PC (1984). "Pregnancy after translaparoscopic gamete intrafallopian transfer". Lancet. 2 (8410): 1034–5. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(84)91127-9. PMID 6149412. S2CID 33844752.
  5. "UC Fertility Case Doctor Sells Home". LA Times. 24 October 1995. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  6. "Ex-Chief of Scandal-Plagued Fertility Clinic Accused of Insurance Fraud". Associated Press. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  7. "Niegan extraditar a doctor acusado en EU". Grupo Reforma (in Spanish).
  8. "Doctor with ties to fertility scandal won't be extradited by Mexico". LA Times. April 2011. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
  9. "Fertility Doctor on the Run Arrested in Mexico". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  10. "Abstracts for 2017 Foundation for Reproductive Medicine Translational Reproductive Biology and Clinical Reproductive Endocrinology Conference". J Assist Reprod Genet. 34 (10): 1385–1402. 2017. doi:10.1007/s10815-017-1055-7. PMC 5633566. PMID 28971380.
  11. Hilary Gilson. "Ricardo Hector Asch (1947- )". The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  12. Lindgren, Kris (1991-05-13). "IRVINE : UCI Medical School Seeks Minorities". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  13. Yoshino, Kimi (2009-09-11). "UCI settles dozens of fertility suits". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  14. MARQUIS, JULIE; WEBER, TRACY; WAGNER, MICHAEL G. (1995-07-06). "Egg Misuse May Have Involved 30 More Patients, UCI Reports : Scandal: The scope of the fertility clinic's alleged improprieties is widened dramatically, touching a third hospital and including patients treated as long ago as 1988". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  15. Teri Sforza (January 25, 2011). "Should UC go after fertility fraud doctor's assets?". Orange County Register. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  16. Anderson, Nick; Schrader, Esther (July 19, 1997). "50 Couples to Get $10 million to end UCI Fertility Clinic Suits". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 15, 2009.
  17. Sforza, Teri (2011-03-23). "UCI fertility fraud doctor set free in Mexico". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  18. "UCI Medical Students Defend Asch's Character". LA Times\. June 14, 1995. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  19. Susan Kellerher; Kim Christensen (May 19, 1995). "Baby Born After Doctor Took Eggs Without Consent". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  20. Yoshino, Kimi (2006-01-20). "UC Irvine Fertility Scandal Isn't Over". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  21. "UC Fertility Case Doctor Sells Home" Los Angeles Times 24 October 1995. Accessed 23 October 2009
  22. Julie Marquis (January 20, 1996). "Fertility Doctor Denies Role in Errors". LA Times. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  23. "University Fires Professor In Embryo-swapping Scandal". Utusan online. Associated Press. July 22, 2000. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  24. "Should UC go after fertility fraud doctor's assets?". Orange County Register. 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-10.</ref"Niegan extraditar a doctor acusado en EU". Grupo Reforma (in Spanish).
  25. "Fugitive in UC Irvine fertility scandal arrested in Mexico City; U.S. hopes to extradite him". LA Times Blogs - L.A. NOW. 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  26. - in Spanish - Accessed 30 December 2010
  27. "Doctor Accused In UCI Fertility Scandal Released From Mexican Jail". CBS Los Angeles. Associated Press. March 23, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  28. Kim Christensen (April 1, 2011). "Doctor with ties to fertility scandal won't be extradited by Mexico". LA Times. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  29. Asch RH, Gutiérrez Najar A, Tabsh K, Magee T and Rasheed S.J. (1999). "Primero nascimento de um garoto saudavel apos semen screening, ICSI e transferencia de embria o emum casal HIV-serodiscordante". JJ BrasileiroReprod. Assist. 3 (3): 36.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. "Scopus preview - Asch, Ricardo Hector - Author details - Scopus". SCOPUS. Jan 1, 2022. Retrieved Jan 5, 2022.
  31. "Citation Thresholds (Essential Science Indicators)". Science Watch. Thomson Reuters. May 1, 2010. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 5 Jan 2022.
  32. "Ricardo Asch - IMDB". IMDB. 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
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