A Georgia woman filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against an IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinic that implanted the wrong embryo, resulting in her giving birth to another couple’s biological child. The woman ultimately lost custody of the baby boy after raising him for five months.
Krystena Murray, a single 38-year-old woman living in Savannah, Georgia, filed the suit against Coastal Fertility Specialists, a business that operates in Savannah and four cities in South Carolina. In the complaint, Murray’s attorneys allege that the clinic’s mistake has been “crushing” for her and that she will “live with this trauma for the rest of her life.”
“Life will never be the same for Ms. Murray. She was turned into an unwitting surrogate against her will, for another couple,” the complaint states. “She carried, lovingly cared for, and delivered a child who ended up not being biologically related to her. And then, for nearly half a year, she bonded with the child — her child — in addition to her bonding with the Baby while he was still in the womb.”
“Ms. Murray likely will never see her child again,” the complaint continues.
The lawsuit details how Murray selected a sperm donor who looks like her: white with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Coastal Fertility transferred an embryo to Murray in 2023. When she gave birth in December of that year, however, it became “readily apparent” that the clinic had transferred the wrong embryo: “the child was African American, and Ms. Murray is White,” the complaint states.
“Ms. Murray had no issues or concerns with the Baby’s race, other than the fact that it indicated to her that he clearly was not related to her,” the complaint states. “Instead of excitement or joy, the day of her child’s birth was dominated by confusion and fear.”
Murray ended up doing an at-home DNA test, which confirmed the baby was not biologically hers, according to the lawsuit. She informed the clinic of their error in February of 2024, and also hoped to find out what had happened to her embryos. By March of 2024, the clinic concluded that it had, in fact, implanted the wrong embryo and informed the other couple, who is not named in the lawsuit.
A subsequent DNA test confirmed them as the child’s biological parents, and they sued Ms. Murray for custody, the complaint states.
Murray ended up voluntarily giving up the child to his biological parents after hiring family-law attorneys in several states and raising the baby on her own for several months.
“I walked in a mom 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,” Murray told NBC News.
“I grew him, I raised him, I loved him. I saw him no different than if he were mine, my own genetic embryo,” she added.
A statement to a local news outlet, Coastal Fertility Specialists said:
Coastal Fertility Specialists deeply regrets the distress caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up. While this ultimately led to the birth of a healthy child, we recognize the profound impact this situation has had on the affected families, and we extend our sincerest apologies.
We’re a family business dedicated to helping individuals and couples build their families. It’s for that reason that we hold ourselves to the highest standards of care and responsibility. This incident, while isolated in our 15-year history, does not reflect the level of excellence and trust we strive to uphold. 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.
These additional measures reinforce our already stringent protocols and reflect our commitment to patient safety, transparency, and trust. We are doing everything we can to make things right for those affected by this incident. We will continue to uphold the integrity of our practice and our commitment to supporting families in their journey to parenthood.
Murray’s lawsuit accuses Coastal Fertility Specialists of negligence and other allegations and seeks damages and a jury trial.
Murray’s case is not the first of its kind, NBC News reported.
“In 2019, a New York couple sued a California fertility clinic alleging doctors implanted embryos that belonged to two other couples, a discovery the plaintiffs made after giving birth to twins,” the report states. “In 2021, two couples sued a different California clinic after a mix-up there led the couples to spend several months raising each other’s biological children before they swapped. The cases have since been settled.”
While industry groups offer some guidelines on the IVF process, the industry is largely unregulated, Dov Fox, a law professor at the University of San Diego told the outlet.
“When it comes to assisted reproduction, no agency or authority tracks or polices this kind of substantial and needless error,” Fox said.
Murray’s attorney Adam Wolf, whose firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise specializes in fertility cases, told the local news outlet that what happened to Murray should “never happen at a fertility clinic.”
“Unfortunately, the United States does not have meaningful fertility industry oversight. Until IVF clinics are subject to real regulations, reporting requirements and mandatory certification programs for lab staff, these mishaps will continue to occur,” he said.
Wolf said Murray has not been able to get answers about whether any of her own embryos were transferred to another couple or whether they are still being stored at the fertility clinic.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.