Time to boycott Lane Fertility!
After going through the arduous and sometimes painful process of donating their eggs to a Bay Area fertility clinic, a growing number of women allege they were paid late or never paid at all by the clinic’s owner.
Despite legal agreements with Lane Fertility stipulating they would be paid within three months of post-donation follow-up visits, nine separate women who spoke to NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit described being ghosted by Dr. Danielle Lane when their compensation was due.
While some of the women were eventually paid by Lane Fertility, they said that only happened after attorneys wrote demand letters to the clinic on their behalf.
“On this most recent cycle, I was counting on my compensation to pay for my schooling and pay off the remaining debt so I could sign up for more classes,” said Kaytlyn Becker, who said she wasn’t paid for her latest egg donation until NBC Bay Area reached out to Lane Fertility about her case. “And I’ve missed that deadline.”
Becker, 24, donated for the first time three years ago, inspired to go through the process after someone close to her faced infertility. She chose to donate through Lane Fertility, which operates clinics in San Francisco and Novato, after coming across an ad for the clinic on social media, where Lane frequently posts videos encouraging women to donate their eggs.
“They ask you about your GPA, if you have any special talent, your health history, all sorts of stuff to see if you qualify for being an egg donor,” Becker said. “And if you pass the health background for genetic diseases, then they move you on to the next process.”
But Becker said the process takes a toll, describing hormone injections that led to side effects such as extreme bloating, cramps and headaches.
While she alleged she was paid late after her first donation back in 2022, Becker decided to go through the process for a third time with Lane Fertility earlier this year, saying she signed an agreement with the clinic that would pay her $6,000 within 90 days of her post-donation follow-up visit.
As of early September, Becker said that payment was five months behind schedule.
“They blocked my phone number,” Becker said. “They don’t respond to my emails. I am struggling to get in contact with Dr. Lane. And when I do get in contact with her, it’s just her saying, ‘We’ll pay you later, we’ll pay you later.’”
Becker said she was finally paid in September after NBC Bay Area reached out to Lane Fertility multiple times about her accusations, though the clinic never responded to NBC Bay Area’s questions about Becker’s case and those of the other donors.
Becker is far from alone. Her story has been echoed by several other patients of Lane, some of whom traveled from other states to donate their eggs through the fertility clinic.
“They never paid my medical debt,” one of them said. “And they never reimbursed me for transportation or the food costs that were fronted from out of pocket.”
Another patient, speaking Spanish, said, “We go through pain with no reward.”