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The embryo mix-up incident took place at a fertility clinic in Australia’s Queensland in February this year.
The IVF clinic is ready to abide by the recommendations by review. (Photo Credits: X)
In a case of a rash medical blunder, an Australian woman ended up giving birth to a stranger’s child after an unexpected embryo mix-up at a fertility care clinic in Brisbane, Queensland. As confirmed by the centre, the mix-up was due to a “human error.” This comes at a time in such cases remain rare in Australia.
The error was discovered in February this year after the birth parents requested to transfer their remaining frozen embryo to another provider. “Instead of finding the expected number of embryos, an additional embryo remained in storage for the birth parent,” the company, Monash IVF, said in a statement.
In the statement, Monash IVF CEO Michael Knaap apologised for the mistake, stating that everyone was “devastated” after the incident. According to him, the embryo from another patient was incorrectly thawed and transferred to the wrong parents, resulting in the birth of a child. He confirmed that an investigation has been launched, further assuring that the incident remains an “isolated” one.
The company also revealed that the crisis management team was activated instantly after the mistake was discovered and that they started meeting the affected patients to offer apologies and necessary support. The incident has been reported to relevant regulators, including the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee. Meanwhile, the names of the couples involved or other details about the baby, including its custody and date of birth, have been kept private.
The incident took place at Monash IVF in Brisbane in the state of Queensland, where the law recognises the birth mother and her partner to be the child’s legal parents. It is yet to be seen if things take a legal turn as the genetic parents never consented to their embryos being used.
The blunder comes on the heels of Monash IVF’s other legal trouble. The centre reached a 56 million Australian dollar settlement for destroying embryos of 700 patients after inaccurate genetic testing, which found that 35 per cent of the destroyed embryos were normal and could have resulted in potential pregnancies.
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