New mom claims she gave birth to a baby who is not biologically her own after ‘heartbreaking’ embryo mixup
A new mom is suing an IVF clinic after claiming she gave birth to a baby that is not biologically hers.
The lawsuit, filed at Palm Beach County Circuit Court in Florida on January 9, claims the woman was a patient at the Fertility Center of Orlando and alleged that she was implanted with the wrong embryo.
According to court documents obtained by News 6 Orlando, the couple, identified as ‘Caucasian’ in the court documents, began IVF treatment with the clinic in March 2025.
In early December, the woman gave birth to a baby who had the ‘appearance of a non-Caucasian child.’
‘Tragically, while both Jane Doe and John Doe are racially Caucasian, Baby Doe displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,’ the lawsuit read.
‘Of equal concern to the (couple) is the obvious possibility that someone else was implanted with one or more of their embryos and… is presently parenting one or more of their children,’ the lawsuit continued, as reported by WFLA.
The documents stated the parents and their baby formed an ‘intensely strong emotional bond’ with the unborn child carried during pregnancy, and the bond is continuing to grow despite the baby potentially not being genetically theirs.
The lawsuit, filed at Palm Beach County Circuit Court in Florida on January 9, claims the woman was a patient at the Fertility Center of Orlando and alleged that she was implanted with the wrong embryo (stock image)
‘The emotional bond grows stronger every minute of every day that Baby Doe remains in their care,’ the lawsuit alleged.
News 6 reported that the couple reached out to the clinic to see if the baby could be reunited with her biological parents but the clinic did not respond.
The couple’s attorney told News 6 that the ‘heartbreaking and unexplained’ in vitro fertilization errors remain unresolved, and the mistake is ‘inexcusable.’
‘While our clients continue to fall more deeply in love with a beautiful little girl who is someone else’s child, they are also living with the unbearable knowledge that there may be one or more of their own children unknowingly in the care of strangers,’ the statement read.
‘It is unimaginable how such mistakes could have happened, and it is inexcusable how the doctor and clinic responsible for those mistakes could be running from the consequences of their reckless conduct,’ it continued.
‘It is a mystery why they are refusing to voluntarily cooperate in trying to undo the mess they have created, but that refusal has required us to seek emergency court intervention and may soon require a broad public appeal for help.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Fertility Center of Orlando for comment.
Unfortunately, IVF mix-ups, although rare, are not uncommon.
Unfortunately, IVF mix-ups, although rare, are not uncommon (stock image)
In 2019, two Californian couples realized they were raising each other’s biological children after DNA tests revealed their embryos had been swapped with another couple’s.
Alexander and Daphna Cardinale gave birth to their daughter May, unaware that another couple, Annie and her husband, who used a nickname for privacy reasons, were raising their genetic daughter, Zoe.
Both couples decided to turn over their daughters to their biological parents after the news was revealed.
Since then, the Cardinales and Annie and her husband, who live just 10 minutes apart, have been co-parenting as each couple wanted to remain involved in the life of the child they had raised for the first three months of her life.
Despite the switch, the families never wanted to sever ties with each other.
Alexander said: ‘There’s no person to give you advice. So we ended up just sort of huddling together, the four of us, and it’s a blessing that we all are on the same page.
‘We’ve spent every holiday together since then. We’ve spent every birthday together since then and we’ve just kind of blended the families.’
