Woman gives birth to someone else's baby after IVF clinic mixes up treatment
A woman in Georgia is taking legal action against a fertility clinic after the staff mixed up her embryo with another during an in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, causing her to give birth to someone else's baby.
According to a report by NBC News, 38-year-old Krystena Murray wanted to raise a child on her own and enlisted the services of Coastal Fertility Specialists, which operates IVF treatments in different parts of the country.
Murray chose a sperm donor with whom she shared physical similarities such as white skin, dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was then implanted an embryo in 2023, but when she gave birth in December of that year, she quickly "knew something was very wrong," according to the lawsuit.
The baby boy was a "dark-skinned, African American baby," making her realize that she had "unknowingly and unwillingly carried a child through pregnancy who was not biologically related to her."
"The birth of my child was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life, and honestly, it was. But it was also the scariest moment of my life," Murray said at a news conference.
"All of the love and joy I felt seeing him for the first time was immediately replaced by fear. How could this have happened?" she added.
She said that she had hoped that "it was just a sperm mix-up, not an embryo mix-up," but DNA test results confirmed in January 2024 that the baby was not biologically related to her.
Despite this, Murray shared that she still loved the baby as if he was her own child.
The Washington Post, citing the lawsuit, reported that she "stayed home to bond with her son, breastfeeding him, taking him to follow-up doctor's visits, and snuggling him throughout the day." However, she refused to share photos of him on social media and let her family and friends see him as she didn't want to answer questions even she had no answer for, like whose baby it was and how it happened.
After reaching out to Coastal Fertility Specialists, who then informed the baby's biological parents about the incident, Murray gave up the child to them in court in May, which the lawsuit says further added to her trauma.
"I walked in a mom with a child and a baby who loved me and was mine and was attached to me, and I walked out of the building with an empty stroller, and they left with my son," she lamented.
"I grew him, I raised him, I loved him. I saw him no different than if he were mine, my own genetic embryo," she continued.
In a statement, Coastal Fertility Specialists said that it "deeply regrets the distress caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up."
"This was an isolated event with no further patients affected. The same day this error was discovered we immediately conducted an in-depth review and put additional safeguards in place to further protect patients and to ensure that such an incident does not happen again," they added.
Per The Washington Post, Murray’s attorney said that they are still uncertain on whether her embryo was transferred to someone else, raising the possibility that "her biologically related child is being raised by someone else."
The clinic is now being sued for negligence, fraudulent concealment, lack of informed consent, among others.
As for Murray, The Washington Post reported she's still looking to have her own child one day. "I'm hoping to continue my journey to be a mom," she said.
