UCI FERTILITY SCANDAL : Figures in Case Avoid Each Other : Hearing: Fertility doctors, whistle-blowers and UCI officials keep their distance in appearance before Senate panel.

SACRAMENTO —  It was a day of icy glares and trembling gestures as the central figures in the UC Irvine fertility scandal assembled Wednesday in the same room for the first time.

The doctors, patients, university officials and whistle-blowers crowded into chambers before the Senate Select Committee on Higher Education but consciously avoided each other in even the simplest ways.

The three physicians at the center of the controversy, who are accused of misappropriating human eggs and money-skimming, maintained a cool demeanor during the emotionally charged proceedings, traveling to the state Capitol separately, with one of them not arriving until late afternoon.

Time after time during the nine-hour hearing, witnesses who have filed lawsuits, who have lost their jobs and reputations or who have endured countless hours of intrusive fertility treatments brushed past each other in stony silence.

Whistle-blower Debra Krahel said that confronting the people who had caused her so much pain would provide no personal satisfaction.

“Of course, I think what the doctors did was unconscionable,” said Krahel, a senior administrator with the center who was placed on leave in July, 1994, after reporting the alleged improprieties. “The past year has been hell. But I have nothing to say to them. I think I will let the judicial system take care of that.”

Fellow whistle-blower Marilyn Killane said she dreaded Wednesday’s hearing. The former office manager hasn’t seen or talked to the doctors in nearly 16 months.

“I refused to go near the doctors. I just couldn’t,” Killane said after testifying Wednesday. “I’m too intimidated.”

John and Debbie Challender felt much the same nervousness at the prospect of encountering the doctors they accuse of stealing Debbie Challender’s eggs and implanting them in another woman. At times, the Corona couple sat a few feet away from Dr. Ricardo H. Asch, whom they primarily blame for the alleged egg-stealing.

“I hoped we wouldn’t see [Asch],” said John Challender, 46, who fought back tears talking about the incident that he says preys on his mind constantly. “I might not have been able to maintain my composure. . . . I might have told him I hope he has as much trouble sleeping as I do.”

While critics were assailing the fertility doctors’ once pristine reputations, Asch and his two partners, Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda and Dr. Sergio Stone, kept their distance from one another.

The three, once hailed as a “dream team” of fertility research, sat apart during the Senate hearing and barely spoke to each other, if at all.

Flanked by attorneys who shielded them from reporters, none of the doctors would comment about the hearings. The three, however, have vigorously denied the charges.

Unlike his two partners, Asch refused to testify before the committee, sitting impassively for more than an hour, repeatedly staring at the ceiling and rocking in his chair, while Stone read from a lengthy prepared statement.

During the morning session, while he waited to be called before the committee, Asch, 47, sequestered himself across the hall from the hearing room. Meanwhile, Stone, 53, grabbed a front-row seat for the morning session, while Balmaceda, 46, did not arrive for the hearing until after 3 p.m.

Asch appeared before the panel about 2 p.m. and announced his decision not to testify. Visibly perturbed by the physician’s reticence, state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), the committee chairman, delayed Asch’s departure from the hearing for more than four hours.

Finally, at 6:15 p.m., unable to detain Asch any longer, Hayden excused the doctor.

“I think Dr. Asch will be taking the 7 o’clock plane back to wherever it takes him,” Hayden quipped.

Times staff writer Tracy Weber contributed to this story.