- A Georgia woman is suing the fertility clinic she used to get pregnant after they implanted the wrong embryo. She gave birth to another couple’s baby.
- The mix-up caused the woman to lose custody of the baby, who was given to his biological parents at five months old.
- The woman’s attorney says this is not the first time a mix-up like this has happened, and is calling for federal regulations of fertility clinics.
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The process of going through in vitro fertilization can be daunting, but most people who go through it will say it was all worth it once they got to hold their baby. That was true for one Georgia woman, even though she noticed immediately after giving birth that something was amiss.
“It was immediately apparent that something did not go to plan at the fertility clinic,” Krystena Murray said. “All of the love and joy I felt seeing him for the first time was immediately replaced by fear.”
All of the love and joy I felt seeing him for the first time was immediately replaced by fear.
Krystena Murray
What was there to fear?
When she wanted to have a baby as a single woman, Murray went to Coastal Fertility Specialists in Savannah, Georgia. She selected a sperm donor, a Caucasian man with similar features to hers, and went through months of treatment to have her baby.
However, when the baby was born, he was African American. Murray said she immediately hoped there had just been a mix-up with the sperm donation, but she feared it was something more.
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Murray said questions instantly filled her mind, including “How could this have happened? What happened? Was he genetically related to me at all? If he wasn’t, could someone come and take him from me?”
As it turned out, her fears were valid.
What happened?
Murray bought an at-home DNA test and discovered the baby wasn’t hers. The fertility clinic had implanted another couple’s embryo in Murray, and she’d had their baby.
When she notified the clinic about the mix-up, worried the same thing could happen to other potential parents, they contacted the baby’s biological parents, who took custody of the boy at five months old.
“I loved, nurtured and grew my child, and I would have done literally anything in my power to keep him,” Murray said in a press conference with her lawyer on Tuesday, Feb. 18. “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.”
What’s next?
Murray is now suing the fertility clinic, saying no parent should ever have to endure what she has gone through.
“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.
Murray’s lawyer, Adam Wolf, said what happened in Murray’s case is rare, but not unheard of. He’s calling for change at the federal level.
“This is not the first IVF mix-up case that I’ve handled and, sadly, it will not be the last,” Wolf said. “A big reason is the lack of regulation. Unfortunately, the United States is one of the developed countries without meaningful oversight over fertility clinic laboratories.”
Wolf said he wants to see the U.S. impose “real regulations,” reporting requirements and mandatory certification programs for lab staff.
As for Murray, she’s not giving up her dream of being a mom. She’s trying IVF again, this time at a different fertility clinic.
