A woman in Australia, without knowing it, gave birth to the baby of a stranger after receiving the embryo of another patient from her in vitro fertilization clinic due to “human error,” said the clinic.
The confusion was discovered in February when the clinic of the city of Brisbane discovered that biological parents had too many embryos in storage, said the supplier, Monash FIV, in a statement provided on Friday.
The staff discovered that an embryo of another patient had been defrosted by mistake and transferred to the biological mother, a spokesman said.
Australia’s media reported that the baby was born in 2024. Monash FIV did not confirm how old the child was.
The company, one of the largest IVF suppliers in Australia, said that an initial investigation had not discovered any other error. His statement did not identify the patients involved or disseminated details about the child’s custody.
“All of us in Monash FIV are devastated and we apologize with all those involved,” said CEO Michael Knaap. “We will continue to support patients at this extremely distressing moment.”
The “human error” was made “even though they are strict laboratory security protocols,” said the statement. The company said that the episode to the relevant regulator in the state of Queensland had reported.
Monash IVF opened in 1971 and sees patients in Didens of locations through Australia. Last year, the firm resolved a collective claim of more than 700 patients, without entering responsibility, after its clinics destroyed potentially viable embryos.
The clinic paid a $ 35 million agreement.
Rare cases of embryo confusion have been reported before, even in the United States, Great Britain, Israel and Europe.
A woman in the state of Georgia of the United States in February filed a lawsuit against a fertility clinic after giving birth to the baby of a stranger.
Krystena Murray realized the error after the birth of the babies because the sperm donor was white and the child was black.
Murray said he wanted to raise the baby, but voluntarily gave the 5 -month -old boy to his biological parents after they told him that he would not win a legal fight for his custody.
In Australia, each State makes its own laws and rules that govern the use of IVF, which according to defenders put patients at risk of errors or supervision failures.
Queensland’s Parliament approved its first laws that regulate the sector in 2024.
The measures will establish a record for all people conceived in a clinic and made the destruction of the medical history of donors illegal.
The change followed an official report that criticized the storage of frozen sperm donations in Queensland, finding almost half of the verified samples were medium or high risk of bad sensations and recommending that thousands are destroyed.
Australia’s states and territories “need to see if their regulations are up to it,” said Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth on Friday.
“Trust needs to be brought and it is imperative that happens.”