Woman sues fertility clinic, saying she gave birth to another patient's baby

Kristina Murray became pregnant through in vitro fertilization two years ago, and she says she didn't realize that the fertility clinic had made a fateful mistake until she went into labor. In December 2023, Murray gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

But she also immediately realized that the child was not developed from her own lab-fertilized egg. The baby was Black, while Murray and her sperm donor were both white. She later learned that doctors had implanted another patient's embryo instead of her own.

Despite this, Murray decided to raise the child. But after reporting the error to the fertility clinic, she said clinic staff located the child's biological parents and notified them. Murray said they demanded custody, and to avoid a legal battle she couldn't win, she gave up the five-month-old child.

Murray, 38, of Savannah, filed a civil lawsuit yesterday against Coastal Fertility Specialists, alleging that the clinic was negligent in mixing up her embryo with another couple's, causing her ongoing pain and suffering. "I have never felt so violated, and this situation has left me physically and emotionally exhausted," Murray told reporters at a virtual news conference.

"I wanted to be a mother my whole life. I cherished, nurtured, and carried my baby, and I would have done anything to keep him." Coastal Fertility Specialists operates a clinic in Savannah and four others in neighboring South Carolina. The medical facility apologized in an emailed statement for what they called an "unprecedented error that led to the mix-up of embryos."

The statement said that staff have taken new safeguards to prevent similar errors from happening in the future. "This was an isolated incident, and no other patients were affected," the statement said. "We are doing everything we can to make amends to those impacted by this event."

Murray said that everything seemed normal when she began treatment in early 2023. She took medication to stimulate egg production, and the eggs were later collected and fertilized in the lab using donor sperm. She said she became pregnant when an embryo was implanted into her uterus for the second time.

But her lawsuit claims that the clinic's "extreme and outrageous" error caused Murray to "involuntarily and unknowingly become a surrogate for another couple." She is seeking unspecified monetary damages. Her attorney, Adam Wolf, said Murray still doesn't know what happened to her own embryos.

Wolf said it's unclear how the mix-up happened. Wolf's law firm has represented more than 1,000 patients taking action against fertility clinics, often for errors such as lost or damaged embryos due to being dropped on the floor or stored in faulty freezers.

He said it seems rare to implant the wrong embryo in a patient. "Fertility clinics perform vitally important work," Wolf said. He added, "With that amazing work comes real responsibility. When fertility clinics make mistakes like this, the consequences are life-altering."

Murray recalled the day she gave birth, and how her joy was quickly replaced by confusion and fear. If the child wasn't genetically hers, she wondered, whose child was he? Would they take him away? Her lawsuit claims that this fear kept Murray from posting photos of the baby on social media or even initially showing him to friends and family.

Murray had a DNA test done early last year that confirmed the baby was not from one of her embryos. Wolf said his firm soon notified Coastal Fertility Specialists, because Murray wanted the clinic to improve its procedures and safeguards. Wolf said the clinic identified the child's biological parents and let them know that Murray had given birth after receiving one of their embryos.

Murray said the couple sued her for custody last year. She said she voluntarily gave up the baby after her lawyer told her she had no chance of winning in court. That was last May, when the baby was five months old. Murray said she hasn't seen him since.

"I considered all sorts of consequences when I underwent IVF," Murray said, including the risks of bleeding, infection, infertility, and even death. "I never thought that I might give birth to someone else's child, and then they would be taken away," she said. "I feel like this is a real possibility that women should be aware of."