Woman sues IVF clinic after being forced to give up baby that wasn't hers, in embryo mix up
23 February 2025, 12:27
A woman is suing an IVF clinic in the US after she gave birth to a baby boy that wasn't hers, and she had to give it up.
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Krystena Murray, 38, is suing an IVF clinic in Savannah, Georgia after giving birth to a baby that wasn't hers, and having it taken away from her.
She described it as "the scariest moment of her life" when she realised she was implanted with the wrong embryo, according to the lawsuit.
Murray gave birth in December 2023, through IVF treatment at The Coastal Fertility Specialists.
The lawsuit alleged that she "unknowingly and unwillingly carried a child through pregnancy who was not biologically related to her."
She said that she was shocked her baby was African American, because she had chosen a white sperm donor.
Her lawsuit said that she had to give custody of the baby to the biological parents, only five months later, which "added to her trauma".
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The birth of my child was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life, and honestly, it was. But it was also the scariest moment of my life,” she said at a news conference.
“All of the love and joy I felt seeing him for the first time was immediately replaced by fear. How could this have happened?”
The lawsuit said Murray "hoped that it was just a sperm mix-up, not an embryo mix-up.”
However, tests showed that the baby was not biologically related to her at all.
Murray told NBC news, after handing over the custody of the child: “I walked in a mum with a child and a baby who loved me and was mine and was attached to me, and I walked out of the building with an empty stroller, and they left with my son.”
“I grew him, I raised him, I loved him. I saw him no different than if he were mine, my own genetic embryo.
"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.
"I'll never fully recover from this," she said.
The Coastal Fertility Specialists said in a statement, on behalf of the clinic, it "deeply regrets the distress caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up."
"This was an isolated event with no further patients affected. The same day this error was discovered we immediately conducted an in-depth review and put additional safeguards in place to further protect patients and to ensure that such an incident does not happen again."
Krystena Murray has accused the clinic of negligence and is seeking damages.