Culture | At the sharp end

“The Retrievals”, a tale of agony and addiction, makes listeners squirm

A new podcast explores how an American fertility clinic ignored women’s pain

The eye of a woman crying. The iris is made of spermatozoids trying to enter the pupil, which represents the egg
Image: Nathalie Lees

THE WOMEN remember pain ripping through the most intimate parts of their bodies. “It felt like someone had…gutted me,” says one. Another recalls bucking her hips wildly on the operating table. These harrowing experiences at Yale Fertility Centre are the subject of “The Retrievals”, a gripping new podcast from Serial Productions and the New York Times.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “At the sharp end ”

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