The Stakeout — Nashville E2

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Speaker 20 On the morning of Friday, April 5th, 2024, Mary Shaker walks into the Center for Reproductive Health and takes a seat in the waiting room.

Speaker 24 It's the same day as Sidney's appointment, though the two women don't know each other.

Speaker 25 Like Sydney, Mary is also getting ready for an embryo transfer.

Speaker 24 For the past few weeks, she's been taking fertility drugs and coming into the clinic regularly for blood work and ultrasounds.

Speaker 32 I always have to take time off to go and do all these appointments off work, and so I always pick the earliest appointment possible.

Speaker 23 Mary's transfer is about a week away, and she's counting down the days.

Speaker 32 I'm like just hoping that things are looking good and we're progressing forward.

Speaker 32 I mean, I just remember being excited that we were in the process of starting another transfer that could lead to having a family.

Speaker 38 Mary and Sydney's appointments are the same morning and yet they're very different.

Speaker 30 Sydney leaves the clinic in a panic with her world turned upside down.

Speaker 38 But Mary's appointment isn't particularly notable at all.

Speaker 7 So at 8 a.m. I show up and

Speaker 7 reception is acting normal. I got my blood drawn.

Speaker 7 It was a different lady than the normal phlebotomist, but I didn't think anything of it because I figured it seemed like it was like kind of a contracting company where it was like they sent nurses to different areas.

Speaker 7 Anyway, so and then I went and got my ultrasound. The ultrasound nurse technician

Speaker 7 did my measurements, got dressed, and I left like it was just a normal check-in,

Speaker 7 like it was just normal.

Speaker 42 Mary finishes up and goes to her job as a veterinary technician.

Speaker 35 Nothing seems out of the ordinary until later that afternoon.

Speaker 7 That's when I got a phone call at 4 p.m. from my IVS nurse saying that,

Speaker 7 you know, I'm so sorry to tell you this, but your transfer is being pushed to the following month. I'm livid at that point because I'm already on the drugs.
So I am.

Speaker 20 I'm asking questions like, what are you talking about?

Speaker 7 Like, did everything look okay with my blood work? Like, is there anything wrong with my ulstrasound? Like, why am I getting pushed?

Speaker 7 And she just kept saying, you know, we're going to have a meeting next week. I'll know more next week.

Speaker 26 The only explanation she gets is that the center is short-staffed.

Speaker 45 But the nurse instructs her to keep taking the medication she's on, including Lupron, a drug that, among other things, stops you from ovulating.

Speaker 43 You have to inject it. And there are a lot of side effects like joint pain, nausea, hot flashes.

Speaker 26 And on top of that, it's expensive.

Speaker 7 Lupron is like $1,000 a vial if you don't have insurance. Maybe even more.
It might be like $1,200 a vial.

Speaker 7 You know, I just kept thinking, okay, well, I'll just keep taking my Luperon, but like, update me and like, tell me what's going on.

Speaker 7 And like, but I am, I am pissed and terrified at this point because I knew something was wrong. Like, I knew something was not right with this clinic.

Speaker 26 Mary spends the weekend in anger and confusion.

Speaker 40 She's gone through a lot to get her body ready for the embryo transfer.

Speaker 42 And now, another setback.

Speaker 24 Monday morning comes and goes, and Mary hears nothing from the clinic.

Speaker 47 That evening, more than 72 hours since she spoke with her IVF nurse, Mary's coworker calls her and tells her to turn on the local news.

Speaker 52 Now,

Speaker 21 they're airing a piece about the Center for Reproductive Health.

Speaker 53 For the past two years, the couple's driven to Midtown Nashville for fertility treatments at the Center for Reproductive Health. Unexpectedly, at Friday's appointment, a receptionist shared bad news.

Speaker 53 The staff just received a letter reading, unforeseen circumstances have led to a financial deficit. Regrettably, you will not receive your paychecks tomorrow.
As a result, people walked off the job.

Speaker 42 There on News Channel 5 in Nashville is Sydney and her husband, Austin.

Speaker 53 I'm having to feel

Speaker 53 grief almost. I'm grieving the plans that I had made.
I am grieving the life that I thought I was going to have this summer in Nashville, News Channel 5.

Speaker 24 Mary is stunned.

Speaker 18 If this is true, if the clinic is going under, it means her embryo transfer is probably not going to happen either.

Speaker 57 She doesn't know what to do.

Speaker 7 I was so confused and scared and sad and just like angry.

Speaker 7 It felt like another

Speaker 7 lost chance to start a family.

Speaker 43 The next morning, Tuesday, April 9th, Mary's husband decides to go to the Center for Reproductive Health himself to see what's going on.

Speaker 42 The news report was concerning, but maybe there was some kind of misunderstanding, or maybe the financial issues had been worked out.

Speaker 7 He wanted to just talk to somebody. Like, he wanted to know if there was somebody there.

Speaker 7 See if he could get any information, you know, not just from the news, but from somebody at the clinic, right?

Speaker 22 Mary's husband says that when he arrives, the clinic doors are unlocked.

Speaker 59 He walks in, and what he sees confirms the couple's fears.

Speaker 58 There's no one behind the front desk, and the room is quiet, except for the phones, which are ringing non-stop.

Speaker 31 It feels like a ghost town or a scene from one of those disaster movies where everyone's picked up and left mid-sentence.

Speaker 31 On the reception counter is a set of keys with a sticky note that reads, thanks for the opportunity.

Speaker 7 Any bad person could have just literally crawled over the counter and gotten people's medical records, could have walked around the clinic, like there's just nobody there.

Speaker 42 I'm Melissa Jeltson from School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. This is what happened in Nashville.

Speaker 57 Episode 2, The Stakeout

Speaker 34 Mary isn't the only patient who learns that the Center for Reproductive Health is closing from the news.

Speaker 22 In the hours after Sydney's news report airs, panic spreads.

Speaker 44 Patients report calling the clinic and no one picks up.

Speaker 30 Many send emails to the patient portal with frantic questions.

Speaker 34 Some request their medical records and get them. Others get no response at all.

Speaker 46 Even the clinic's website remains unchanged, as if nothing's happened.

Speaker 30 Sidney, it seems, is the only person with any information, and even hers is limited.

Speaker 34 Desperate for answers, patients begin tracking her down on social media, flooding her with messages. Is the clinic going to reopen?

Speaker 56 How did you get your embryos out?

Speaker 58 What should we do?

Speaker 66 Sydney can't offer much.

Speaker 42 She was simply lucky, tipped off just before the doors were shut. But she wants to help.

Speaker 67 I looked at my husband. I was like, I think I'm going to make a Facebook page for all the families that are going through this because

Speaker 67 that way we can all just kind of have each other.

Speaker 68 I don't have the answers, but maybe like all together, we can kind of figure out what's going on.

Speaker 26 Mary quickly joins the group.

Speaker 42 Even if no one knows much yet, at least they can compare notes, share scraps of intel, and try to piece together what's happening.

Speaker 7 Everyone's kind of posting, trying to get information, seeing if anybody's gotten through the phone lines, if anyone's gotten an email, because the phone lines just ring and ring and ring.

Speaker 57 There are patients like Mary and Sydney who have been taking hormonal medications for weeks, preparing their bodies for an embryo transfer.

Speaker 22 They've already paid for the procedures. Procedures now indefinitely on hold.

Speaker 40 There are patients who aren't actively in treatment, but are storing their embryos there for future use, trusting that they are safe and will be available when they need them.

Speaker 42 And then there are people like Taylor Turner, whose window to have a child had already been narrowing.

Speaker 69 You're taught so long, like, don't touch another person or you're going to get pregnant. Like growing up, it was like, it's, you know, don't get pregnant, don't get pregnant.

Speaker 69 So I think I just thought it was going to be an easy thing to do.

Speaker 35 Taylor and her husband had been trying for a few years to get pregnant before they became patients at the Center for Reproductive Health.

Speaker 69 Seeing people around you getting pregnant, and you know, it feels like every time you open up a social media platform, it's in your face. Someone's getting pregnant,

Speaker 69 having their second or third kid.

Speaker 37 So, it just, it's tough.

Speaker 22 Taylor had just started the fertility process when she got a devastating diagnosis, a brain tumor. She needed surgery immediately.

Speaker 41 Everything else was put on pause. The recovery process was long, but as soon as she was able, Taylor began an egg retrieval cycle.

Speaker 30 If there was any chance she could have a child using her own eggs, she needed to do this immediately before undergoing radiation.

Speaker 69 They retrieved nine eggs.

Speaker 11 Five, I believe, got to the blastocyst stage.

Speaker 69 I may be butchering that name. I'm sorry if I am.

Speaker 69 So, five of them got to that stage, and then we sent them off to get tested.

Speaker 26 After testing, Taylor ended up with one genetically normal embryo.

Speaker 69 We have a highly graded boy embryo that we lovingly call 5 AAA.

Speaker 67 So, we always refer to him as that.

Speaker 60 This one embryo, 5AA,

Speaker 21 which is in storage at the Center for Reproductive Health, is her only chance for a biological child.

Speaker 69 I do have a progesterone receptive tumor, and I can't do IVF again. We have a lot banking on the one embryo that we have.

Speaker 22 Taylor's situation was unique, but the fear and uncertainty she felt wasn't.

Speaker 61 One patient described that stretch of chaos, not knowing what to do or how to do it, or whether their eggs and embryos were being protected, as quote, one of the worst experiences of her life.

Speaker 22 Across the Facebook group, patients were in different stages of treatment, but nearly all were bound by the same anxiety that what they had stored inside the clinic might be lost.

Speaker 58 For many, those embryos weren't just biological material, they were the result of years of hope, effort, and sacrifice. Patients didn't know what was going on behind the scenes, if Dr.

Speaker 22 Vasquez was working to keep the embryo safe or trying to set up a way for patients to transition care to another clinic.

Speaker 74 From their perspective, they were on their own.

Speaker 37 I think me and a couple others realized this is bad.

Speaker 51 This is not normal.

Speaker 67 They were just going to ignore us. They weren't going to write us back.
They weren't going to answer us.

Speaker 68 They had truly closed their clinic.

Speaker 67 I think that's when we realized like we're going to have to do something because they're not going to basically help.

Speaker 54 The clinic doesn't release a statement until April 16th, a full week after Sydney goes public.

Speaker 28 It assures patients that they have and will continue to quote, maintain the safety and integrity of your embryos, eggs, and sperm samples, and that they will assist patients in getting medical records and in transferring their embryos, eggs, and sperm to another clinic.

Speaker 31 But for some patients, this delayed statement brings little solace.

Speaker 67 With IVF, you already struggle with not having control of the situation, but with this, I truly felt like I couldn't even figure out what was going on.

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Speaker 7 I've been dealing with infertility for over five years. All of the testing we had done, there's not a single test to this day, but they can show why I have infertility.

Speaker 7 I'm just the couple that has unexplained infertility, which is 25% of couples with infertility.

Speaker 60 This is Mary again, the veterinary technician who had an appointment at the clinic on its very last day of operation, even though she didn't know it then.

Speaker 65 By the time she arrived at the Center for Reproductive Health that morning, her fertility journey had been long and exhausting.

Speaker 22 She and her husband started trying for a baby when she was just 26, early by most standards.

Speaker 59 But by her late 20s, it was clear she needed help.

Speaker 70 She had started treatment elsewhere with a series of what's called intrauterine insemination, or IUIs.

Speaker 22 This is a procedure where sperm is placed directly into the uterus to increase the chances of fertilization.

Speaker 64 It's less invasive and less expensive than IVF, and often the first step in fertility care.

Speaker 62 Mary tried one, then another, and another.

Speaker 72 Five in total.

Speaker 61 She got pregnant twice, but both ended in miscarriage.

Speaker 60 None of them led to a baby.

Speaker 22 Eventually, she and her husband decided to move on to IVF.

Speaker 34 But there was a problem.

Speaker 42 The veterinary hospital where Mary worked didn't offer insurance coverage for it.

Speaker 72 And paying out of pocket for IVF can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Many people pursuing IVF in the U.S.

Speaker 22 are in the same position, shouldering the cost on their own.

Speaker 7 We, of course, were just running out of money. I'm pretty sure our credit cards had plenty on them.
And

Speaker 7 so we had to kind of walk away for a little while. And then my hospital got new benefits, Kindbody.

Speaker 7 Ding, ding, ding. I thought I finally won the jazz pot.

Speaker 29 Kindbody is a fertility service that some employers offer as part of their health care benefits, allowing access to a variety of fertility care providers.

Speaker 29 Full disclosure, I also use KindBody for fertility treatments. In Mary's case, only one clinic in Nashville accepted KindBody, the Center for Reproductive Health.

Speaker 7 As soon as the benefits hit of January 2023, I was in their office.

Speaker 47 Mary's first IVF cycle and egg retrieval resulted in 10 eggs, but...

Speaker 7 Only four fertilized. that turned into embryos.
And then after we sent those four off to testing, we only got one viable embryo. That really sucked.

Speaker 18 The results were disappointing, but also fairly typical.

Speaker 26 There's this stereotype that fertility doctors or mad scientists trying to get a monstrous number of eggs just because, when in fact, in most cases, you need to start with a large number of eggs in order to end up with enough embryos for one or two live births.

Speaker 42 When I started IVF, I was told to expect that about half of the eggs retrieved could be lost at each step of the process, during fertilization, during the wait to see if they grew into embryos, and after genetic testing.

Speaker 43 So, if you start with 20 mature eggs, you might end up with four or five viable embryos.

Speaker 56 And that might only end in one, maybe two pregnancies.

Speaker 46 And that's if you're really lucky.

Speaker 29 Still, no matter how much Mary might have prepared for this reality, seeing her numbers diminish from 10 to 1 felt like a gut punch.

Speaker 7 I was super devastated.

Speaker 22 But she still had one healthy embryo.

Speaker 44 And in June 2023, Dr.

Speaker 27 Jaime Vasquez performed the transfer.

Speaker 7 I remember crying really hard after they said they were all done because

Speaker 7 I think the moment of leading up had finally hit me that like, okay, this is do or die. Like this is, this is it.

Speaker 7 Your one embryo is in and in 10 days you're going to find out if you're going to be a mom or not.

Speaker 35 Eager to see if it worked, Mary took a home pregnancy test and it was positive.

Speaker 7 And I was seeing the line get darker. So I was like, oh my gosh, this is it.

Speaker 7 And then the day before I was supposed to go in to do blood work,

Speaker 7 the line was lighter and I

Speaker 7 start to panic.

Speaker 7 And then the next morning, it was even lighter again.

Speaker 7 Like

Speaker 7 I just remember I couldn't even hardly work. I was so distracted.
And then I went in for my blood work and it showed HCV of like 20, which is not good.

Speaker 40 Mary was having a chemical pregnancy, which is a very early miscarriage that occurs shortly after the embryo implants.

Speaker 27 Chemical pregnancies may account for 50 to 75% of all miscarriages, though many people don't even know they're pregnant as it happens so early on in the process.

Speaker 7 You're just not okay after that for a while. I went to counseling.
I joined a support group that I found for women that had been through IVF. And I mean, I just had to build up my hope again because

Speaker 7 we would have to go through another round of IVF to try and have a baby and so we were back at square one.

Speaker 42 Mary went through another egg retrieval, but it was even less successful than her first.

Speaker 24 This time she only got a single egg and it didn't fertilize.

Speaker 43 That's when Dr.

Speaker 24 Vazquez suggested she consider a new path using donor eggs.

Speaker 58 And he had a way to make that happen. Outside of his medical practice, Vazquez ran a separate business called the American Embryo Adoption Agency, or AEAA.

Speaker 38 Through AEAA, patients who are struggling to conceive with their own eggs could purchase donated eggs or embryos, often the leftovers from other couples' IVF cycles.

Speaker 7 I had to finally give up on that there would be a 50% me running around in this world.

Speaker 7 And that I wanted, I wanted to be a mom more than I wanted to just have a genetically binded child.

Speaker 24 Using a Christmas bonus, Mary and her husband purchased 10 donor eggs for $10,000.

Speaker 21 They were fertilized with her husband's sperm at the Center for Reproductive Health.

Speaker 42 Of the 10, two developed into genetically normal embryos.

Speaker 59 Mary is about to transfer one of these embryos when the clinic shuts down.

Speaker 74 Now her embryos are locked inside.

Speaker 22 On Friday, April 12th, exactly one week from her last appointment, Mary sees a Facebook post from another patient with an urgent announcement.

Speaker 20 Dr.

Speaker 43 Vasquez is in the office right now.

Speaker 42 For patients who are desperately trying to get a hold of someone at the clinic, this feels at least promising.

Speaker 26 Maybe Dr.

Speaker 64 Vasquez can help.

Speaker 25 Mary jumps into action.

Speaker 7 At that point, everyone is just like, oh my gosh, we have to get down there. Like, people started showing up at this point because we want answers.
We want to know what's going on.

Speaker 7 Pretty much anyone that didn't have to be like at a crocked end job was down there.

Speaker 7 We were thinking he would recognize us and he would want to, as a decent physician, like he would be like, hey, this is just like a misunderstanding. Or like he would talk to you, you would think.

Speaker 21 As Mary steps off the elevator onto the fourth floor, her heart is pounding.

Speaker 41 She sees seven other women already gathered in the hallway outside the clinic.

Speaker 25 Through the glass doors, the waiting room looks the same, just empty.

Speaker 18 And today, the doors are locked.

Speaker 34 They don't see Dr.

Speaker 25 Vazquez, so it's unclear if he's even still there.

Speaker 42 But on the off chance that he is, they wait.

Speaker 26 The patients want to talk to him.

Speaker 25 If he won't answer their questions, at the very least, they're hoping they can get copies of their medical records.

Speaker 27 Documentation that shows their fertility history and proves their legal claim to what remains inside.

Speaker 21 Their embryos, eggs, and sperm.

Speaker 18 What the industry refers to more vaguely as genetic material.

Speaker 25 Without these records, they can't just move to another clinic for care.

Speaker 28 They can't transport their embryos.

Speaker 20 They can't even begin to try to get pregnant.

Speaker 7 We're just all trying to figure out like how do we get them to come out? Like how do we get them to know that we don't mean any harm? We just want our medical records.

Speaker 52 As they're waiting, the elevator doors open and another woman emerges heading towards the clinic.

Speaker 24 She walks up to the glass door, shakes the handle, and appears confused that the door won't open.

Speaker 7 She thinks she's coming by just to pick up a script. She has no idea that the clinic closed.
I'm like, hey, do you know what's going on? And she's like, no, I just got back into town from vacation.

Speaker 7 I'm supposed to start my IVS this week. And I was like, I think you should watch this news report that came out.

Speaker 7 It's going to be a lot of information. And we're all kind of in limbo.
Like, we all don't know what's really going on. And she starts crying.

Speaker 7 And she's like, I just gave this man $30,000 in cash two weeks ago to start this IVS.

Speaker 7 It shouldn't have been left on the patients to tell other patients about this horrific event. Yeah, I felt like I had just like crushed a woman's soul.

Speaker 57 An hour or two goes by, no one comes to the door, and then a couple of nurses get off the elevator.

Speaker 72 They're not employees of the Center for Reproductive Health.

Speaker 31 Instead, judging by their lab coats, they work for Ovation, an independent embryology lab that partners with another nearby fertility clinic.

Speaker 44 It seems that they came to CRH just to help out.

Speaker 7 And we're like, what are you guys doing here? Like, are you checking on the embryos? And they're like, yeah, we are just here to check on the embryos to make sure the tanks have nitrogen.

Speaker 28 The women start begging the nurses to help, to check if Dr.

Speaker 43 Vasquez is inside.

Speaker 64 And if so, tell him to please come out.

Speaker 64 It was such a horrific thing to see.

Speaker 7 Women were all crying because if this is closing, nobody, the doctors, they're going to repeat tests. They're going to not know what's gone on.
Like, we need our medical records.

Speaker 7 They felt so bad for us. They were hugging us.
They apologized.

Speaker 58 The ovation nurses tell the women to write down their names, and they will search for their medical records while they're inside.

Speaker 27 They make their way through the clinic doors and disappear into the back.

Speaker 7 An hour goes by,

Speaker 7 and the women come out, and they're like, you guys, we're trying, but everything is so unorganized. We can't find a lot of your guys' stuff.

Speaker 7 Half of it's in a paper form, half of it's on digital, half of it's not uploaded. I just remember all this shaking and scared.

Speaker 45 The ovation nurses are able to pass along some medical records, but not Mary's.

Speaker 7 She just kept saying, I just can't find the proof of the embryos information for you. Like, I was terrified.
I was, oh my God, it was the out of all of our journey, that was the worst moment ever.

Speaker 7 I was scared there wasn't proof that I owned my embryos, that they were mine.

Speaker 26 The ovation nurses can't stay for long.

Speaker 42 They have to get back to work.

Speaker 63 But on their way out, they mention that Dr.

Speaker 40 Vasquez is actually there in the office.

Speaker 26 He doesn't emerge from the back, but Mary isn't ready to give up, not yet.

Speaker 7 And I was like, I'm not leaving.

Speaker 7 Then, all of a sudden, we hear the elevator open up again, and we hear this woman in high heels, and she walks right into the clinic, like she owns the place, like a woman in a suit.

Speaker 7 One of the girls I was there with, Megan literally yells across the lobby and she goes, hey, who are you? And she goes, I'm his attorney. Her name was Dixie and she looked like it, let me tell you.

Speaker 7 And that's when Megan's like, please, you have to help us. Like Mary needs her medical records.
She needs proof that she has embryos in there.

Speaker 26 Dixie is empathetic to her plight.

Speaker 42 She lets Mary inside the clinic and tells her to take a seat in the lobby.

Speaker 47 Dixie heads off to search for Mary's records, warning it could take a while.

Speaker 70 She was being nice.

Speaker 7 She was actually, she was trying to defend him to me. She was like, you know, his staff walked out.
We want to help the patients. And like, at that point, I was like, I don't care.

Speaker 7 I was like, just please find my medical records.

Speaker 46 Mary sits alone in the empty waiting room.

Speaker 63 It's strange.

Speaker 35 There's no receptionist tapping on her keyboard, no other patients chatting in hushed tones, no movement at all.

Speaker 70 The normal rhythm of the clinic, which is so familiar to her, is absent.

Speaker 35 The quiet makes her uncomfortable.

Speaker 21 More time passes.

Speaker 20 Dixie finds some paperwork, but it's not what Mary needs.

Speaker 42 Then, Dixie calls an IT person on the phone to help. And finally, Mary gets an email with a thousand pages of documents attached.

Speaker 44 She quickly forwards it to her husband.

Speaker 7 Then I'm like, I need you to start looking through this email right now before I leave.

Speaker 7 I need you to find in the thousand pages proof that the embryos are genetically like half you, we own them, and that like they are stored here at this lab.

Speaker 7 I just needed that proof before I walked out because I knew, thank God, I knew that would be the last time I would ever be in that lobby.

Speaker 36 Soon, Mary's husband texts her that he's found the needed documents, just as a couple of new women show up at the glass door and rattle the handle.

Speaker 7 I'm thinking, oh my god, it's going to be more patients. They're going to see me in here.
I'm going to get their hopes up.

Speaker 7 They start pounding on the glass door and they look at me and they point at the knob. And that's when the attorney showed back up.
So the attorney opens the door and is like, we're not open right now.

Speaker 7 We will contact you. They're like, no, we are here from the state of Tennessee.

Speaker 7 And then the attorney literally, she looked at me and she said, do you have everything? And I said, yes, I do. And that was it.
I walked out of there.

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Speaker 39 Holiday season or everyday life. Airtasker, get anything done.
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Speaker 75 Did you know Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10?

Speaker 76 Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop.

Speaker 13 Voted PC Mag's Reader's Choice top laptop brand for 2025.

Speaker 75 Thin and ultra-lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere, and Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades.

Speaker 75 Visit lgusa.com/slash iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PC Mag Reader's Choice used with permission.

Speaker 12 All rights reserved.

Speaker 80 A new year is on the horizon, and your 2026 savings start here. Right now, you can access the Washington Post for just $2 every four weeks.

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Speaker 29 As Mary leaves the Center for Reproductive Health, the new women enter the clinic.

Speaker 36 They aren't patients, though.

Speaker 42 They're inspectors from the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission.

Speaker 20 Their job is to investigate complaints about health care providers.

Speaker 30 They've received reports that patients have been unable to contact anyone at the clinic and they're there for an unannounced inspection.

Speaker 22 Dixie, Dr.

Speaker 24 Vazquez's lawyer, brings them back into the office.

Speaker 36 An affidavit by one of the inspectors, Deborah Verna, lays out exactly what they saw.

Speaker 70 The Tennessee Health Facilities Commission declined to make her available for an interview, but here are parts of her affidavit and the resulting report read by a voice actor.

Speaker 3 I observed that there were no staff members present besides Dr. Jaime Vazquez.
Dr. Vazquez told us that the clinic was not closed, it was just experiencing low volume.

Speaker 43 Dr.

Speaker 22 Vazquez gives the inspectors a tour of the facility.

Speaker 24 They are very eager to check on the cryogenic tanks, as a number of patients had expressed worry that their embryos might not be receiving adequate care.

Speaker 3 We asked Dr. Vazquez how many embryos were currently being stored.
At first, he said he didn't know. He later stated there were between 800 to 1,000 embryos.

Speaker 31 Court documents later show there were 1,188 frozen embryos at the clinic, several hundred more than his estimate.

Speaker 42 Dr.

Speaker 31 Vasquez leads them to the cryotank storage room.

Speaker 18 Just outside the door, the inspectors spot a tank without an alarm system.

Speaker 55 It's labeled both backup storage and mice embryos.

Speaker 72 As they prepare to enter the room, the inspectors ask if they should put on personal protective equipment.

Speaker 42 Dr. Vazquez tells them it's not necessary.

Speaker 59 Then, in front of them, he begins opening the tanks.

Speaker 3 I observe Dr. Vazquez opening embryo and sperm cryogenic storage tanks without using personal protective equipment, which is a violation of infection control protocols.

Speaker 3 When I raised the issue with Dr. Vazquez, he stated he did not need to use PPE.

Speaker 22 The inspectors watch as Dr.

Speaker 30 Vazquez removes the plug from a cryogenic tank and places it on a stainless steel rolling cart.

Speaker 57 The cart is visibly soiled, covered in an unknown sticky substance, used tweezers, broken glass laboratory straws, and a watted-up paper towel.

Speaker 55 The investigators also take a closer look at the tanks themselves.

Speaker 25 They had been tipped off by the clinic's former embryologist that one of the tanks might be leaking.

Speaker 30 They wanted to see for themselves.

Speaker 3 I did not observe a puncture, but I was unable to fully determine if the tank had developed a leak because there were no documented temperature readings of any of the storage tanks since April 5th.

Speaker 22 As the inspector wrote in her report, Any facility with cryogenic storage tanks is federally mandated to monitor and document their temperatures regularly.

Speaker 49 But there was no temperature documentation since Friday, April 5th, a full week before.

Speaker 43 When Verna asks Dr.

Speaker 72 Vazquez about the missing paperwork, he has no explanation.

Speaker 42 Inspectors ask Dr. Vazquez to demonstrate the procedures for servicing the tanks.

Speaker 65 But when he goes to measure the liquid nitrogen, the inspectors say he's off by seven centimeters.

Speaker 60 Werna questions Vazquez about it, but he doubles down and insists he's right.

Speaker 3 Dr. Vazquez appeared to be unable to accurately measure the liquid nitrogen and record the measurements.

Speaker 42 They asked Dr.

Speaker 64 Vasquez for a copy of the facility's written policies, but he can't find them.

Speaker 63 Verna finds something though, when she checks out a binder laying on the countertop in the lab.

Speaker 44 It's filled with old documents, dated 2001.

Speaker 61 The health department later notes in its report that CRH's policies and procedures had not been updated to reflect current professionally recognized standards of practice for over two decades.

Speaker 42 The inspectors conclude their visit and leave the Center for Reproductive Health, but the investigation is not over.

Speaker 5 They call an embryologist who had recently worked at the clinic, now living in Florida.

Speaker 42 She tells them that she's owed more than $50,000 for past services and shares her concerns about the embryos.

Speaker 42 The embryologist declined to speak on the record with me, so here's what she told investigators, according to their report.

Speaker 70 Again, read by a voice actor.

Speaker 57 His behavior is like a caged animal, and he's dissociated from reality.

Speaker 1 He'll be talking with me, Chipper, like everything is great, and it's not.

Speaker 19 The clinic's former embryologist begs someone to intervene.

Speaker 1 He's not set up for an emergency. Someone needs to take care of it.
If something goes wrong with one of the tanks, he doesn't know what to do. And he has no one now that can do this.

Speaker 1 All of his staff is gone.

Speaker 42 I asked Dr.

Speaker 59 Vasquez's lawyer, Dixie Cooper, about the claims that he was unable to tend to the cryogenic tanks properly.

Speaker 60 She said the inspectors were incorrect and that he was in the clinic every day checking them.

Speaker 61 Regardless, on April 26, exactly three weeks after the clinic's final day in operation, someone else does step in to take over.

Speaker 85 We have some breaking news to tell you about. Tennessee's Attorney General is suing a Nashville doctor.

Speaker 42 Dr.

Speaker 62 Vazquez and the businesses tied to his fertility clinic are sued by the Tennessee Attorney General.

Speaker 56 It's not a criminal case or even a medical malpractice suit.

Speaker 21 Instead, Vasquez is accused of violating the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits false advertising and misrepresentation about goods and services.

Speaker 66 The gist of the lawsuit is this.

Speaker 42 The patients, considered consumers, paid for services and a certain level of care they didn't get.

Speaker 22 The clinic's promotional material boasted that patients would receive consistent, personalized, high-quality care.

Speaker 29 And if they ultimately decided to switch to another fertility clinic, the Center for Reproductive Health would facilitate the transfer of care to ensure an easy and seamless transition.

Speaker 22 Obviously, when the clinic shut down, that's not what many patients experienced.

Speaker 64 The state estimated that Dr.

Speaker 42 Vasquez's patients had paid him tens of thousands of dollars for services that they had not received.

Speaker 26 The way that they do it is you pay for your transfer before the cycle. Before they even start you on the medicine, like you have to pay for your transfer.

Speaker 67 We had already paid for the transfer, we already pay for all the stuff that goes with it.

Speaker 44 The Attorney General's office also obtains a temporary restraining order, freezing Vazquez's assets and effectively removing him from control.

Speaker 44 The court quickly appoints a third party called a receiver to manage the closure and oversee the clinic storage tanks until they can be moved elsewhere.

Speaker 44 Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scrumati gives an interview with News Channel 5 to address the immediate concerns of the patients, namely, if their genetic material stored at the clinic is okay.

Speaker 86 The tanks are topped off.

Speaker 86 To the best of my knowledge, they've been kept to an adequate level throughout the transition, but that's only because a lot of people worked very hard to make sure that they were.

Speaker 86 As this thing collapsed, that was a priority for everybody. They wanted to be sure that there was not some failure of the cooling system.

Speaker 42 For patients, it feels like a turning point.

Speaker 27 With Vasquez out and someone new in charge, surely things will start moving.

Speaker 42 They just need their medical records.

Speaker 40 They just need to get access to their embryos.

Speaker 57 It seems like it should be straightforward.

Speaker 42 But anyone who's dealt with the government knows everything moves at a sluggish pace.

Speaker 24 For these patients who are racing the clock to get pregnant, any delay could mean the difference between having a child or not.

Speaker 33 For us, we just can't get started without our embryos.

Speaker 40 So we're literally just stuck.

Speaker 32 It feels like I just keep getting older and my embryos keep sitting in a tank.

Speaker 25 Next time on what happened in Nashville.

Speaker 26 On the Facebook group, the women are talking to each other, sharing their experiences at the clinic.

Speaker 40 And as they compare notes and and research, they discover what appears to be another bombshell about someone else working at Dr.

Speaker 42 Vasquez's clinic.

Speaker 19 There's no mention of him with the board.

Speaker 72 There's no mention of him with a license in the state of Tennessee. There's nothing.

Speaker 42 The Metro Nashville Police Department and the Department of Health launch investigations.

Speaker 84 I don't want anybody touching me. I don't want my own husband touching me.
Like, you just feel disgusting. You feel violated.
You feel manipulated. like all of the emotions.

Speaker 84 You know, at that point, you're deceived.

Speaker 72 What Happened in Nashville is a production of School of Humans and iHeart podcasts, written, reported, and hosted by me, Melissa Joltson.

Speaker 42 Our producer is Edelise Perez.

Speaker 83 Our senior producer is Amelia Brock, with additional production by Emily Seiner and Carl Cadel.

Speaker 72 Theme song by Jesse Nye Swanger.

Speaker 83 Sound design, scoring, and mixing by Jeremy Thal and Jesse Nye Swanger, Fact-Checking by Savannah Hughley and Austin Thompson. Our production manager is Daisy Church.

Speaker 83 Executive producers are Jason English, Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Elsie Crowley.

Speaker 73 If you're enjoying the show, tell everyone you know and don't forget to leave a rating in your favorite podcast app.

Speaker 31 Tune in again next week for what happened in Nashville.

Speaker 39 This is Tanya Radd from Scrubbing In with Becca Tilly and Tanya Rad. Air Tasker is the platform that helps people get anything done.

Speaker 39 Furniture assembly, cleaning, errands, repairs, organizing, even the odd, can someone please deal with this job? And during the holidays, Air Tasker is a lifesaver.

Speaker 39 Think holiday lights, gift wrapping, last-minute toy builds, or someone to wait in line for those viral cookie drops. You can book a Tasker for anything you can think of.

Speaker 39 Gingerbread mansions, elf drop-ins for kids, full holiday photo setups, or a backyard turned into a winter wonderland. But it's just as useful year-round.

Speaker 39 Moving help, yard work, decluttering, pet care, tutoring, event help, anything. Here's how it works.

Speaker 39 Just go on Air Tasker, describe what you need, set a budget, and choose the best tasker for the job. Holiday season or everyday life.
Airtasker, get anything done.

Speaker 39 Download the AirTasker app or go to AirTasker.com.

Speaker 75 Did you know Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10?

Speaker 76 Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop.

Speaker 13 Voted PC Mag's Reader's Choice top laptop brand for 2025.

Speaker 75 Thin and ultra lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere.

Speaker 13 And Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades.

Speaker 75 Visit lgusa.com slash iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PC Mag Reader's Choice used with permission.

Speaker 12 All rights reserved.

Speaker 80 A new year is on the horizon, and your 2026 savings start here. Right now, you can access the Washington Post for just $2 every four weeks.

Speaker 80 Head into the new year with six months of savings at the special intro rate. After that, it'll cost $12 every four weeks.
Cancel anytime.

Speaker 80 You'll get unlimited access to trusted journalism that helps you understand the year ahead and the world around you.

Speaker 80 Now's the perfect time to subscribe because great habits and great savings start together. Go to washingtonpost.com/slash iHeart.

Speaker 80 That's Washington Post.com slash iHeart and start your year informed with the post.

Speaker 8 And now, superhuman Shack.

Speaker 9 I keep telling them not to say that. I'm no superhuman.
Believe it or not, I struggle with moderate obstructive sleep apnea or OSA.

Speaker 9 In adults with obesity, moderate to severe OSA is a condition where breathing is interrupted during sleep with loud snoring, choking, gasping for air, and even daytime fatigue.

Speaker 9 Let's just say it can sound a lot like this.

Speaker 9 Sound familiar? Learn more at don't sleep on OSA.com.

Speaker 8 This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.

Speaker 11 At CVS, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it. It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night.

Speaker 11 And we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and yeah, healthy snack.

Speaker 11 At CVS, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So visit us at cvs.com or just come by our store.

Speaker 36 We can't wait to meet you.

Speaker 11 Store hours vary by location.

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast,

Speaker 2 guaranteed human.