A COUPLE had a baby of a different race after a US fertility doctor mixed up their embryo, a lawsuit claims.
The unnamed husband and wife, who now live in the UK, say they have been left with “haunting uncertainties” about their second son’s true ancestry.
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They claim that the baby boy, born in August last year, has a “much darker skin pigmentation than either the father, genetic mother or their first son.”
Court docs say the pair visited Dr Melvin Thornton at the CT Fertility clinic in the town of Trumbull, Connecticut, in 2015 after struggling to conceive.
They froze embryos using the husband’s sperm and eggs from a chosen donor.
The wife then became pregnant with the couple’s first child via IVF — and gave birth to the baby boy in April 2016, the lawsuit says.
DNA TEST
They then returned to the clinic in September 2016 in the hopes of giving their son a full sibling by using the same embryos stored from the previous procedure.
But when the wife gave birth to their second son last year, the newborn didn’t resemble his older brother “whatsoever”, they claim.
DNA tests later confirmed that their youngest child is not biologically related to the dad, according to court papers.
The lawsuit, first filed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in November last year, adds: “While their second-born son is loved and healthy in every aspect, he is not in fact their biological baby.”
They are barraged daily with questions and suspicions regarding who the child’s real father is and even whether the mother had an affair
Lawsuit
They now live with a “constant, nagging and debilitating fear” that this mystery sperm donor will realise what happened and claim custody of their child.
And their situation has left the family vulnerable to “ignorant and cruel harassment” from judgemental strangers.
The lawsuit says: “They are barraged daily with questions and suspicions regarding who the child’s real father is and even whether the mother had an affair.”
There are also fears that the dad’s sperm may have been mistakenly used to impregnate other women without their knowledge.
The suit adds: “They have reason to believe they have lost genetic material (embryos) belonging to them, with no knowledge as to whether it has been transferred to another person, destroyed or frozen under an incorrect name.”
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Their case against CT Fertility – which closed in October last year – and their obstetrician Dr Thornton will not go to trial until September 2021.
Lawyers for Dr Thornton and CT Fertility didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The couple’s attorney declined to comment.
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