Woman sues fertility clinic, saying she gave birth to another patient’s baby
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Krystena Murray became pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization two years ago, and said she was unaware until she gave birth that the fertility clinic had made a fateful mistake.
In December 2023, Murray delivered a healthy baby boy. But she also knew immediately that it didn’t develop from one of her own lab-fertilized eggs. The baby was Black, while Murray and her sperm donor are both white. She says she later learned doctors had transferred another patient’s embryo instead of her own.
Regardless, Murray resolved to raise the child. But after reporting the mix-up to the fertility clinic, she says, its staff tracked down and notified the baby’s biological parents. They demanded custody, Murray said, and she gave up the 5-month-old boy to avoid a legal fight she couldn’t win.
Murray, 38, of Savannah filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against Coastal Fertility Specialists, alleging the clinic’s negligence in mixing up her embryos with the other couple’s caused her ongoing pain and anguish.
“I have never felt so violated and the situation has left me emotionally and physically broken,” Murray told reporters during a virtual news conference. “I spent my entire life wanting to be a mom. I loved, nurtured and grew my child and I would have done literally anything to keep him.”
Coastal Fertility Specialists operates a clinic in Savannah and four others in neighboring South Carolina. The medical practice apologized in an emailed statement for what it called “an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up.” It said the staff has adopted new safeguards to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future.
“This was an isolated event with no further patients affected,” the statement said. “We are doing everything we can to make things right for those affected by this incident.”
Murray said everything seemed normal when she began treatment in early 2023. She did injections to stimulate production of eggs, which were later harvested and fertilized in a lab using a donor’s sperm. She said she became pregnant the second time an embryo was implanted in her uterus.
But her lawsuit says the clinic’s “extreme and outrageous” mistake caused Murray to be “turned into an unwitting surrogate, against her will, for another couple.” She’s seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Her attorney, Adam Wolf, said Murray still doesn’t know what happened to her own embryos. It’s still unclear how the mix-up occurred, he said.
Wolf’s law firm has represented more than 1,000 patients taking action against fertility clinics, often for mistakes such as embryos being lost or damaged from being dropped on the ground or being stored in malfunctioning freezers. He said transferring the wrong embryo to a patient appears to be rare.
“Fertility clinics engage in vitally important work,” Wolf said, adding: “With that amazing work comes a real responsibility. And when fertility clinics make mistakes like this, the consequences are life-altering.”
Murray recalled the day she gave birth and how her joy quickly gave way to confusion and fear.
If this child couldn’t be hers genetically, she wondered, whose child was he? And could they take him away?
That fear kept Murray from posting pictures of the baby on social media, her lawsuit says, or even showing him to friends and family initially. Soon after she gave birth, Murray kept her newborn covered in a blanket to avoid questions at a funeral she attended.
Murray took a DNA test early last year that confirmed the baby didn’t come from one of her embryos. Wolf said his firm notified Coastal Fertility Specialists soon after because Murray hoped the clinic would improve its procedures and safeguards.
The clinic determined who the child’s biological parents were, Wolf said, and let them know Murray had given birth after receiving one of their embryos.
Murray said the couple sued her for custody last year. She volunteered to give up the baby, she said, after her lawyers told her she had no chance of winning in court.
That was last May, when the baby was 5 months old. Murray said she hasn’t seen him since.
“I considered the consequences of IVF going in,” Murray said, including the risks of bleeding, infection, sterility and possibly death.
“Never once did I consider I might birth someone else’s child and have them taken from me,” she said. “And I feel like that should be something that women are aware of as an actual possibility.”
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press
