After an Australian woman accidentally implanted another woman’s embryo in a fertility clinic, she unknowingly gave birth to a stranger’s baby.
Australian media reported that the mix of Monash IVF in Brisbane, Queensland was accused of being human error.
CEO Michael Knaap said: “On behalf of Monash IVF, I want to say that I am very sorry for what happened.
Last year, the same clinic paid $56 million (£26.8 million) of settlements to hundreds of patients whose embryos were damaged, although they were feasible.
According to a Monash IVF spokesman, staff members were aware of the problem in February, when parents asked to transfer their remaining frozen embryos to another clinic.
ABC quoted a spokesperson as saying: “Not the expected number of embryos was found, but the additional embryos were stored.”
Monash confirmed that another patient’s embryo was wrongly thawed and transferred to the wrong person, resulting in the birth of a child.
The clinic has launched an investigation and the incident has been translated as a regulator. Mr KNAAP said the clinic was convinced it was an isolated incident.
Last year, Monash IVF reached a $56 million (£26.8 million) Landmark class action lawsuit After inaccurate genetic testing, 700 former patients destroyed the embryo.
The case found that in fact about 35% of embryos are normal, which may lead to feasible embryos that are abnormal due to screening failures.
IVF- or in vitro fertilization- involves removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries and then fertilizing with sperm in the laboratory. When fertilized eggs become embryos, they are inserted into the woman’s uterus.
This is an expensive process that never succeeds every time.
According to the IVF in Australia and New Zealand, there are 20,690 babies in 2021. University of New South Wales report.
