A couple are suing a fertility clinic after giving birth to a child who is not biologically related to them.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills conceived through IVF, but discovered the child was not biologically theirs after giving birth to a baby with the “appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child”.
Both of the parents are white, and genetic testing later confirmed the child was not related to them.
The pair, from the US, suspect that IVF Life, who operate the Fertility Centre of Orlando in Longwood, Florida, implanted the wrong embryo in Ms Score.
Score and Mills filed a lawsuit against the clinic on January 22, after making multiple attempts at contact without receiving a response.
The parents say they “love our little girl” and hope they can raise her themselves if allowed.
“We would hope to be able to continue to raise her ourselves with confidence that she won’t be taken away from us,” they told News6 in a statement.
“At the same time, we are aware that we have a moral obligation to find and notify her biological parents, as it is in her best interest that her genetic parents are provided the option to raise her as their own.”
Score and Mills also revealed their fears that one of their three frozen embryos has been mistakenly planted in another patient.
The couple are calling for the clinic to account for their remaining embryos, and request that the clinic shares all information with other patients who had embryos stored at the facility during the year Store gave birth.
Additionally, they want IVF Life to fund genetic testing for all children born through the clinic over the last five years.
One of the couple’s lawyers, Jack Scorola, said the couple “have fallen in love with this child”.
“They would be thrilled in the knowledge that they could raise this child. But their concern is that this is someone else’s child, and someone could show up at any time and claim the baby and take that baby away from them.”
A spokesperson for the family added that an investigation is ongoing.
“Based upon leads discovered to date, and despite the lack of help or cooperation from the clinic, there is hope that we will be able to introduce our daughter to her genetic parents and to find our own genetic child soon,” they told the Daily Mail.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the lawsuit names IVF Life LLC and Dr Milton McNichol, who operates the clinic.
The facility previously issued a statement in apparent response to Score and Mills’ claims, but it was later taken down.
It reportedly said the clinic was “actively cooperating 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”.
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