Woman gives birth to stranger’s baby after horror Monash IVF mix-up

Two families have been left furious and heartbroken after a woman unwittingly gave birth to another couple’s baby in a massive IVF bungle which saw her implanted with the wrong embryo.

A woman has unwittingly given birth to a stranger’s baby after a horror mix-up by Monash IVF saw her implanted with another couple’s embryo.

It is believed to be the first time in Australia that a baby has been born after the wrong embryo was transferred.

Melbourne-based Monash IVF, which only confirmed the case after the Herald Sun uncovered the bungle and put questions to the business, said an internal audit found no evidence that this had happened to other families, but also could not rule it out.

Both families are understood to be furious and heartbroken with major legal action being considered against the embattled fertility giant.

It is believed the baby was born last year in Brisbane, but the families only learned of the mistake in February when Monash IVF became aware of the “human error”.

This was only discovered after the birth parents asked to transfer their remaining frozen embryos to another IVF provider.

Two families have been left furious and heartbroken over the IVF bungle. Picture: file image

“Instead of finding the expected number of embryos, an additional embryo remained in storage for the birth parents,” Monash IVF said.

In a statement the IVF giant confirmed the birth parents had received an embryo from Monash IVF that belonged to another patient.

“Monash IVF can confirm that an incident has occurred at one of our clinics, where the embryo of one patient was incorrectly transferred to another patient resulting in the birth of a child,” it said.

“Our focus is on supporting our patients through this extremely distressing time. We are devastated about what has happened and apologise to everyone involved.”

Monash IVF, which was founded in Melbourne and achieved the world’s first IVF pregnancy in 1973, said to protect the privacy of the families involved it would not reveal details of where or when the mix up occurred or which family the baby was living with.

“While we understand the public interest in this matter, the privacy of the families involved – including the child – has been our priority,” the spokesman said.

“The information we are providing now is being done in a de-identified way, with their knowledge.”

She said within a week of the mix up coming to light, the medical director of the Monash IVF clinic involved arranged to meet with the families to apologise and offer support.

Monash IVF put the mix-up down to “human error”.

The statement said Monash IVF adhered to strict laboratory safety measures to safeguard and protect the embryos in our care.

“Despite these rigorous protocols, the initial investigation into the incident has found that it was the result of human error,” it continued.

It is the latest scandal to hit the fertility clinics, with the Monash IVF Group last year agreeing to pay $56m hundreds of heartbroken families whose healthy embryos may have been destroyed in bungled genetic screening tests.

The class action, the largest against an IVF provider, involved more than 700 patients who were affected by the inaccurate embryo screening test.

The spokesman said Monash IVF had disclosed the baby bungle to the relevant assisted reproductive technology (ART) regulators, including the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee.

It has also commissioned Victorian Senior Counsel Fiona McLeod to conduct an independent investigation and said Monash IVF was committed to implementing all her recommendations.

It is believed the baby was born last year in Brisbane, but the families only learned of the mistake in February. Picture: uStock

A “truly sorry” Monash IVF CEO Michael Knaap said Monash IVF was devastated.

“We apologise to everyone involved. We will continue to support the patients through this extremely distressing time,” Mr Knaap said.

While this is believed to be the first case in Australia, there have been several incidents overseas where a woman has given birth to a stranger’s child after receiving the wrong embryo.

In 2019, two Californian couples discovered they were raising each other’s children after an IVF mix-up.

The parents eventually decided to switch their baby girls back when they were six months old. 

Emily Hart, principal lawyer and head of the medical negligence team at Arnold Thomas and Becker, told the Herald Sun if the families were to launch a civil claim, it could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“It depends on how severe the psychological injury is. For someone who is devastated, has to stop working, and requires ongoing care, it could be worth a significant amount of money,” she said.

Ms Hart said a claim could be brought for medical negligence, psychological harm or breach of contract but the parents’ most immediate concern would likely be custody.

“The custody question is really difficult in these circumstances — and it’s probably the most frightening aspect for parents facing this,” she said.

“It will really depend on where the genetic material came from, and could become a complex family law issue.”

Originally published as Woman gives birth to stranger’s baby after horror Monash IVF mix-up