There is hope a $56 million settlement reached between Monash IVF and claimants in a landmark class action will provide closure to the more than 700 patients who had their embryos destroyed.
Danielle Bopping, a lead claimant in the lawsuit, held bittersweet feelings about Thursday's settlement after the four-year legal fight.
"The outcome doesn't absolve or dissipate the pain and the hurt and the trauma that so many of us have experienced," she told AAP.
"But hopefully this is the start."
The class action, led by Margalit Injury Lawyers, claimed about 35 per cent of embryos found to be abnormal through Monash IVF's flawed genetic testing were actually normal.
Those embryos could have potentially resulted in viable pregnancies but they were instead destroyed, the law firm's managing principal Michel Margalit said.
"Some people will never have the chance to have a child because their embryos were destroyed," she told reporters.
"Some people have gone on to have years of additional treatment when it would never have been necessary at all."
The class action, lodged in December 2020, was seeking compensation from Monash IVF, Monash IVF Group and Adelaide Fertility Centre for patients' financial loss and psychiatric injury.
The companies provided the non-invasive genetic testing of up to 13,000 live embryos between May 2019 and October 2020.
The class action claimed the non-invasive test was found to have a 35 per cent false positive rate.
It was also alleged company employees doctored the results of a clinical trial, forged patient signatures on consent forms and burned documents.
Thursday's settlement provided some closure to class action members, Ms Margalit said.
"There's certainly been a lot of tears and relief," she said.
"It is finally recognition that there was wrongdoing and that these patients, these group members, have suffered tangible, real harm as a result of their negligence."
Monash IVF Group confirmed it had reached the settlement through mediation but noted it had made no admission of liability.
"While we have defended the claim, we believe it is in the best interests of our patients and people to resolve the matter rather than go to trial," a spokeswoman said.
"We acknowledge this case has been challenging for many people and we regret any distress or hurt that may have been experienced."
Ms Bopping said she was hopeful the settlement led to improvements in the multimillion dollar IVF industry.
"They essentially have the lives of babies, and the lives of women and families, in their hands," she said.
"We trust them in good faith that they are doing the right thing by us at all times but that doesn't always seem to be the case."
The settlement still needs to be approved by the Victorian Supreme Court, with a court date for that application yet to be set.
Ms Margalit said the court would also ensure the settlement distribution scheme was fair and reasonable.
