NBC News
A 38 -year -old woman has sued the fertility clinic in which she underwent a treatment to conceive a child after the wrong embryo implanted, which resulted in a shocking discovery as soon as the baby was born, according to a demand .
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in a state court in Georgia, alleges that Krystena Murray “without knowing it and unintentionally led a pregnancy of a child who was not biologically related to her”, something he discovered only when he gave birth. Murray had to deliver the baby’s custody to his biological parents five months later, which increased his trauma, says the demand.
Murray, a wedding photographer who lives in Savannah, had decided to conceive and raise a child with the help of a sperm donor through Coastal Fertility Specialists, which manages in vitro fertilization clinics in South Carolina and Georgia.
The lawsuit states that Murray selected a sperm donor that looked like her: the donor was white, with dark blond hair and blue eyes. Coastal Fertility transferred an embryo to Murray in 2023, but when he gave birth in December of that year, Murray “immediately knew that something was very bad,” said the demand, because the child who gave birth was an “African -American skin dark “.
“My son’s birth was supposed to be The happiest moment of my life, and honestly, was. But it was also the most scary moment of my life, “Murray said on Tuesday at a press conference, adding that he was instantly terrified that they took the baby.” All the love and joy I felt when I first saw him for the first time They were supplanted immediately by fear. How could this have happened? “
However, Murray became fond of the baby and wanted it as if it were his, even after taking a DNA test, according to the demand.
“I expected it to be just a sperm confusion, not an embryo confusion,” he said in an interview with NBC News. But DNA results confirmed that the baby had no biological kinship with her.
He knew he had to tell the clinic, so in February 2024, Murray’s lawyer informed Coastal Fertility Specialists. The clinic identified and contacted the biological parents of the baby, who do not appear in the demand. It was confirmed through a proof of own DNA that the child was theirs, and then demanded custody, the legal complaint indicated.
Murray voluntarily delivered the baby to his biological parents in court on an distressing day.
“I entered like a mother with a child and a baby who loved me and was mine and was united to me, and I left the building with an empty stroller, and they left with my son,” Murray told NBC News.
“I raised it, I educated it, I loved him. I didn’t see it different because it was not mine, (from) my own genetic embryo, “he added.
Murray’s lawyer, Adam Wolf, a partner of the Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise lawyer, said Murray has not been able to obtain answers about whether some of his own embryos were transferred to another couple or if they are still stored in the clinic of fertility.
“We do not know, at this time, what is the current situation of Christina’s embryos,” Wolf said at the press conference on Tuesday.
“This is the capital sin of fertility clinics, transferring the wrong embryo to one of their patients. It should never happen,” he added.
This is the capital sin of fertility clinics, transfer the wrong embryo to one of their patients. It should never happen ”
Adam Wolf Women’s lawyer
The lawsuit appoints Coastal Fertility Specialists and Dr. Jeffrey Gray, its director of the Embryology Laboratory, as defendants. In a statement in the name of the clinic and Gray, Coastal Fertility Specialists said that “deeply regrets the anguish caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in confusion in the transfer of embryos.”
“This was an isolated event where There have been no more affected patients. The same day that this error was discovered, we immediately made an in -depth review and launched additional security measures to further protect patients and ensure that such an incident does not happen again, “the statement said in part.
Tuesday’s demand accuses the defendants of negligence, among other accusations, and requests damages and a jury trial.
“They turned her into an involuntary rental mother, against her will, for another couple,” says the demand.
It is believed that confusion in IVF clinics are extremely rare, but Murray’s case is not the first of this type. In 2019, a New York couple sued a California fertility clinic in which he claimed that doctors implemented embryos that belonged to two other couples, a discovery that the plaintiffs made after giving birth to twins. In 2021, two couples sued another California clinic after an error in it took couples to spend several months raising the biological children of the other couple before exchanging them. The cases have been resolved since then.
With regard to assisted reproduction, no agency or authority monitors or controls this type of substantial and unnecessary errors ”
Dov fox Professor of Law, University of San Diego and Director Center for Health and Bioethics Law Policies
Although the sector groups offer some guidelines on the in vitro fertilization processes (IVF), there is no federal regulation on IVF in the United States that avoids confusion, said Dov Fox, a law professor at the University of San Diego , where he directs the Center for Health and Bioethics Law Policies. There is also no federal requirement for American clinics to report such incidents.
“Regarding assisted reproduction, No agency or authority monitors or controls This type of substantial and unnecessary errors, “Fox said.
Nor is there a standard resource guaranteed for all patients and couples affected by such errors.
The American Society of Reproductive Medicine, a commercial organization, said he could not comment on the demand for Tuesday because he did not know the details of the case, but said that reproductive medicine is a “complex combination of federal, state and professional self -regulation.” On its website, the group states that the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), Food and Medicines Administration (FDA) and Medicare and Medicaid service centers regulate various aspects of IVF, such as the medical devices used and the quality of laboratory tests.
Wolf, whose firm specializes in cases of fertility, He urged that the IVFR industry has more supervision, similar to how other developed countries do.
“Until the IVF Clinics are subject to true regulations, to information requirements and mandatory certification programs for laboratory personnel, This type of errors will continue to be produced“He said at the press conference on Tuesday.
Murray called the boy who gave birth “the most beautiful human being” he has seen in his life and said that his son will always consider him.
“I spent all my life wanting to be a mother. I loved, raised and educated my son, and I would have literally done anything that was in my hands to stay with him,” he said.
