Podcast Summary: "What Happened in Nashville" — Episode 5: The Unraveling

Podcast: What Happened in Nashville
Host: Melissa Jeltsen (iHeartPodcasts)
Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Overview of the Episode

In "The Unraveling," host Melissa Jeltsen delves deep into the chaotic and tragic closure of the Center for Reproductive Health (CRH) in Nashville, Tennessee. This episode focuses on unpacking how the clinic that served so many families aspiring to have children could implode so suddenly, causing emotional and financial fallout for patients and staff alike. Through personal stories, interviews with former patients and employees, and an examination of court and regulatory records, Jeltsen reveals a layered narrative of mismanagement, a lack of oversight in the fertility industry, and the enduring scars left on families.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Patient Support Networks and Grief

• Patients Finding Solace Together:
  • Former patients like Sarah Davis and Penny Koh, though not previously acquainted, formed strong bonds as they navigated the emotional aftermath.
    • Sarah: “We literally laugh and cry together. We just understand. We don’t have to explain anything.” (08:00)
  • Dark humor and mutual understanding became mechanisms for survival.
• Impact Beyond Embryos:
  • Even patients without embryos stored at CRH described feelings of deep violation and struggle.

2. The Court Hearing and Personal Protest

• Witnessing the Fallout in Person:
  • Melissa attends a state hearing against Dr. Jaime Vasquez and CRH.
  • Penny marks the day with “special earrings shaped like vulvas... a quiet act of protest, a statement that women's bodies and health care should not be hidden away or shamed, but seen and respected.” (10:15)
• Politics and Advocacy:
  • The experience shifted some patients’ political perspectives, deepening advocacy for women's healthcare.

3. Dr. Vasquez’s Defense and Narrative

• Account as Told by Legal Counsel and Court Files:
  • Dr. Vasquez, through his lawyer Dixie Cooper, claims the decline began after his wife and administrator, Nancy, became ill in 2019.
  • He describes himself as a “committed, hard working doctor” who tried to keep the clinic afloat by foregoing salary and taking out personal loans (17:30).
  • Vasquez blames “inappropriate behavior” and financial mismanagement by junior staff for the clinic's collapse, including “unauthorized raises” and “unauthorized trips using the CRH credit card.”
  • He claims his priorities remained patient care, especially safeguarding embryos post-closure.
• Efforts to Sell the Clinic Blocked:
  • Cooper asserts the state’s freezing of assets derailed a possible sale of CRH to another clinic.

4. A Contradictory Picture from Former Employees

• Testimony from “Marie” (Pseudonym), a Lab Employee:

  • Marie, who joined in 2022, observed a lack of leadership and proper training after Nancy’s departure.
    • “It was a lot of reading protocols and following written instructions... there was no full-time senior embryologist on staff.” (34:00)
  • Staff shortages, high turnover, and a “culture of cutting corners” led to safety and quality lapses.
  • Human witnessing protocols (essential for safety) were dropped, greatly increasing risk.
  • Marie is accused by Vasquez of sabotaging the clinic—she denies any involvement in financial decisions, but admits to warning others to leave before they were exposed to ethical/legal risk.
  • Her insight: “There’s no reason Dr. Vasquez didn’t see it coming.” (46:45)

• Dr. Ferrer Dyer’s Professional Disillusionment:

  • Dr. Dyer felt misled by Vasquez’s broken promises for licensure, contributing to his decision to depart.
    • “It’s sort of tough where you put in four years, somebody gives you a promise, and then... they’re gonna renege on the promise.” (53:47)

• Jasmine Bills, Junior Embryologist:

  • Hired weeks before closure, Jasmine describes poor onboarding, a lack of safety protocols, and confusion regarding tank alarms crucial for embryo safety.
  • After closure, she continued working to ensure transfers and checked storage tanks, but was never compensated.

5. Obscured Warning Signs and Lack of Transparency

• Discrepancy in Communication:
  • Patients such as Jacqueline Locke described late, unfocused calls with Dr. Vasquez with no disclosure of impending closure.
    • “He had like, no idea what the purpose of the call was... [and] never said a word about the clinic’s financial trouble or that it might not even be open much longer. That makes me feel sick to my stomach.” (68:00)
• Pattern of Violations Found in Records:
  • While Vasquez claims a sudden decline, public records indicate longstanding deficiencies cited by state health and FDA inspectors:
    • Staff performing tasks without required documentation or training (79:00)
    • Use of expired solutions, incomplete donor screenings, improper documentation, and patient privacy violations
  • Despite multiple “voluntary action indicated” (VAI) citations, no agency took significant enforcement action.

6. Patient Experience: Peter Ricci’s Story

• Initial Optimism and Subsequent Horror:
  • Peter and his wife, drawn to the clinic for egg/embryo donation, discovered after-the-fact that their donor was a carrier for serious genetic conditions—information not shared when they made their decision (88:00).
• Lawsuit and Legal Barriers:
  • Their attempt to sue for breach of contract faltered due to Tennessee law potentially exposing them to the clinic’s legal costs.
  • Peter reflects on the trap of sunk costs and emotional investment:
    • “You get deeper and deeper into this process, it becomes harder and harder to walk away... you’re not really in the position to then stop and go somewhere else.” (97:19)
  • After dismissal, the couple learned about CRH’s sudden closure and felt both vindicated and further traumatized.
• Lingering Aftermath:
  • “It’s been the wildest of experiences, of feeling isolated and used and disregarded and then learning… others have also experienced this and they have their own horror stories. You’re not going into fertility treatment from any position of strength.” (103:30)
  • Still not parents after years of effort.

7. Broader Systemic Warnings

• Industry-Wide Concerns:
  • Gaps in regulation and industry oversight leave families vulnerable.
  • Patients express deep distrust in the system:
    • “It has shaken my trust in healthcare and medical professionals. I don’t trust that the industry is not out for the profit. They see desperation and they see dollar signs.” (Next episode preview)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dark Humor and Survival:

  • Sarah: “We literally laugh and cry together. We just understand.” (08:00)

• On Political Awakening:

  • Penny: “I usually fall on the more conservative side, but after all this… I’m advocating more on the other side, which I don’t like sides, but I would pick, you know, women’s health care.” (13:40)

• On Lab Safety and Shortcuts:

  • Marie: “We started dropping witnessing, which was concerning.” (45:51)

• On Lack of Transparency:

  • Jacqueline: “He had like, no idea what the purpose of the call was… never said a word about the clinic’s financial trouble or that it might not even be open much longer. That makes me feel sick to my stomach.” (68:00)

• On Legal System Obstacles:

  • Peter: “They were responding in such a way that if we decided to take things to trial and they triumphed… Tennessee law allows them to… compel us to pay their legal fees and expenses.” (97:19)

• On Patient Disillusionment:

  • Peter: “You get deeper and deeper into this process, it becomes harder and harder to walk away…” (97:19)

Important Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------|--------------| | Patient bonding and dark humor | 08:00 | | Penny’s act of protest and political shift | 13:00-13:40 | | Dr. Vasquez’s defense via declaration | 17:30 | | Marie’s lab experience and lack of oversight| 34:00-46:45 | | Dr. Ferrer Dyer’s testimony | 53:47 | | Jasmine Bills, junior embryologist account | 62:37 | | Jacqueline’s account of Vasquez’s call | 68:00 | | Regulatory findings: years of minor violations | 79:00 | | Peter Ricci’s experience and lawsuit | 88:00-103:30 | | Preview of final episode | 105:00+ |

Tone and Language

Melissa’s reporting is empathetic and detailed, letting the affected patients and staff share their truths candidly. The tone is compassionate yet investigative, frequently weaving in direct quotes that ground the emotional stakes for listeners. There’s a persistent undercurrent of frustration—at both the specific collapse of CRH and the systemic weaknesses it reveals in the booming, largely unregulated fertility industry.

Summary Takeaways

• The sudden collapse of CRH was the result of years of internal dysfunction, leadership failure, regulatory lapses, and staff burnout—not a sudden accident.
• Patients were left confused, traumatized, and in many cases financially devastated, with some unable to continue their family-building journey.
• Dr. Vasquez, through his legal team, blames staff and externalities, while former staff and patients describe widespread mismanagement, unsafe conditions, and a lack of transparency.
• Regulatory agencies repeatedly found objectionable but “correctable” deficiencies, but systemic failures allowed problems to persist.
• The story is not just about one tragic closure, but about how the fertility industry’s lack of oversight leaves families unprotected and vulnerable—raising urgent questions about the future of women’s health and reproductive medicine.

For listeners, this episode paints a vivid and nuanced picture of institutional collapse, the human cost of industry failures, and why stronger regulation and transparency are desperately needed in fertility medicine.