Woman gives birth to stranger’s baby
An Australian IVF clinic has blamed human error after a patient was implanted with the wrong embryo.
Monash IVF, which operates across Australia, has apologised after a patient at one of its Brisbane clinics had an embryo incorrectly transferred to her, meaning she gave birth to a child of another woman.
The error was identified in February after the birth parents requested their remaining embryos to be transferred to another IVF provider.
“Instead of finding the expected number of embryos, an additional embryo remained in storage for the birth parents,” the company said.
Monash IVF said an investigation confirmed an embryo from a different patient had been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents.
The incident has been blamed on human error.
The birth parents were notified of the mistake within a week of it being discovered.
Monash IVF chief executive Michael Knaap apologised for the bungle and said the company would continue to support the patients.
“All of us at Monash IVF are devastated and we apologise to everyone involved,” he said.
“We have undertaken additional audits and we’re confident that this is an isolated incident.”
The IVF provider has asked Victorian Senior Counsel Fiona McLeod to investigate the incident and has committed to implementing any recommendations in full.
The incident has been reported to the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee, the Queensland assisted reproductive technology regulator.
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Monash IVF reached a $56 million settlement with more than 700 former patients in August after it allegedly destroyed embryos during faulty genetic screening.
The class action claimed about 35 per cent of embryos found to be abnormal through the fertility provider’s flawed genetic testing were normal.
Monash IVF Group confirmed it had reached the settlement through mediation but noted it had made no admission of liability.
Also in February, patients across the country were warned of possible identity theft after a cyber security breach at major provider, Genea saw patient management systems were accessed by an unauthorised third party.
