US Woman Sues IVF Clinic After She 'Unknowingly' Becomes Another Couple's Surrogate Due To Embryo Mix-Up

The US woman had to give the baby back to his biological parents after the wrong embryo was planted in her.

Krystena Murray hoped it was a sperm mix-up and not an embryo mix-up.

Source : X

A US woman has sued a fertility clinic after she gave birth to a child that was not hers – after the wrong embryo was implanted in her. The mix-up led to her becoming an unknowing surrogate, which resulted her in handing over the baby to its biological parents.

Krystena Murray, 38, from Georgia, underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, and gave birth to a baby boy. However, she immediately realised that something was wrong. Murray, who is Caucasian, chose a sperm donor with a similar appearance, the baby was, however, African-American.

“I was happy. I was a mom. He was beautiful and perfect, but it was also very clear something was wrong,” Murray said at a press conference announcing a lawsuit against the clinic, Coastal Fertility Specialists, according to The Guardian.

According to NBC News, she had hoped that it was just a “sperm mix-up and not an embryo mix-up”.

After giving birth, Murray took an at-home genetic test and discovered she was not biologically related to the child. She informed the fertility clinic, which then reached out to the child's biological family.

“My baby is not genetically mine – he doesn’t have my blood, he doesn’t have my eyes, but he is and will always be my son,” Murray was quoted by The Guardian. “I will never fully heal or completely move on and part of me will always long for my son and wonder what kind of person he’s becoming.”

The child’s biological parents started custody proceedings but Murray voluntarily gave up the baby when he was a few months old.

Murray remembers the “shock” she felt when she saw her baby for the very first time, her attorney, Adam Wolf said while announcing the lawsuit against the fertility clinic. “Errors like this should never occur in a fertility clinic, this is the cardinal sin,” said Wolf. The attorney said that they had no update on Krystena’s embryos.

"I'm heartsick; I'm emotionally broken. Nothing can express the shock and violation upon learning that your doctor put a stranger's embryo into your body. To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away," she said at the press conference, according to a Fox News report.

Coastal Fertility Specialists said it “deeply regrets the distress caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up,” according to NBC News.