A woman is suing a fertility clinic in Florida, United States, after she gave birth to a baby that wasn’t genetically hers, reports MSN.
According to documents obtained by Nexstar’s WFLA, the couple, identified as John and Jane Doe, began working with the Fertility Centre of Orlando in March 2025, pursuing IVF treatment.
An embryo believed to be resulting from the fertilisation of the woman’s eggs with her husband’s sperm was implanted in her uterus. She carried the baby to term, giving birth in December to a healthy baby girl, who was identified in the lawsuit as Baby Doe.
However, the parents, who were described as being “racially Caucasian”, suspected that Baby Doe was of a different race. Subsequent testing found that the infant has no genetic relationship to either parent, according to the lawsuit.
“Equally concerning to the couple is the obvious possibility that someone else was implanted with one or more of their embryos and is pregnant with or has been pregnant with and is presently parenting one or more of their children,” the lawsuit said.
The parents claimed the clinic never responded to their attempts to contact them and reunite the baby with her genetic relatives. In the lawsuit, they said that although they are willing to keep Baby Doe in their care, she “should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able and willing to take her”.
“An intensely strong emotional bond was created on the part of John and Jane Doe with the unborn child Jane Doe carried during the nine months of her pregnancy, and despite the certain knowledge that she is not their genetically matched child, the emotional bond grows stronger every minute of every day that the baby remains in their care,” the lawsuit stated.
The parents and their attorneys are demanding emergency injunctive relief, calling for the clinic to inform all affected patients of the incident in case Baby Doe is their child, or in case they received Jane Doe’s embryos.
They are also calling on the clinic to provide free genetic testing for all patients and children for the past five years, and for parents to be informed of “any discrepancy in the parentage of the children of all patients whose birth resulted from embryo implantation over the past five years”.
The Fertility Centre of Orlando told WESH that it was “actively co-operating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
White US woman sues after having black baby in IVF error
US couples file lawsuits over ‘worst ever’ IVF mix-up