A woman in Georgia is suing a fertility clinic after she gave birth to a baby she realized was not hers.
Krystena Murray is suing Coastal Fertility Specialists, claiming that the clinic implanted the wrong embryo and did not know until she gave birth in December 2023, The Associated Press reported.
The baby was born healthy, but she said she knew immediately that the baby wasn’t the one who developed from her lab-fertilized eggs because the baby was Black. Both Murray and her unidentified sperm donor were white.
She eventually learned that the clinic used someone else’s embryo instead of hers.
Murray had planned to raise the child whom she carried for nine months, but after she told the clinic about the embryo mistake after a DNA test confirmed the baby was not genetically hers, the staff found the baby’s biological parents who demanded custody.
Murray gave up the 5-month-old baby to avoid a legal fight she said she could not win.
She filed suit this week against Coastal Fertility Specialists saying the clinic’s negligence in the mix-up caused her pain and anguish.
Murray’s attorney said in the complaint she was “turned into an unwitting surrogate, against her will, for another couple” and is asking for monetary damages. She is also asking for a jury trial, NBC News reported.
“The actions of the fertility clinic have come very close to destroying me, have left irreparable damage to my soul and ultimately left me questioning whether I should be a mom or not,” she said during a news conference, according to The Washington Post.
“I grew him, I raised him, I loved him. I saw him no different than if he were mine, my own genetic embryo,” she told NBC News.
The clinic apologized and sent a statement via email to the AP which said it was “an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up” and has since put safeguards in place so it doesn’t happen again.
“While this ultimately led to the birth of a healthy child, we recognize the profound impact this situation has had on the affected families, and we extend our sincerest apologies,” clinic executive director Isabel Bryan said in a statement, according to the Post.
“We are doing everything we can to make things right for those affected by this incident,” the clinic’s statement said.
While rare, mix-ups are not unheard of, NBC News reported. A New York couple sued a clinic in 2019 saying that they were implanted with embryos that belonged to two other couples. The plaintiffs had twins. Two other couples sued another clinic in 2021 saying their embryos were swapped and they gave birth to each other babies whom they exchanged. Both the 2019 and 2021 cases were settled.
Murray does not know what happened to her embryos or how the mix-up happened, her attorney said.
She also has not seen the child whom she raised for five months since she gave up custody in May, The Washington Post reported.
Murray said she is still trying to have a baby and is using another clinic, according to the Post.
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