Featured Image Credit: Family handout (Daphna and Alexander Cardinale)
Topics: News, US News, California, Parenting, Health
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: News, US News, California, Parenting, Health
An American couple made a discovery so shocking they decided to launch a lawsuit, as the error has massively shaken up their family.
Daphna Cardinale and her husband Alexander ended up taking a DNA test after having suspicions about their child.
The California-based couple had IVF treatment in order to have a baby, but things didn’t exactly go to plan.
A home DNA test confirmed their worst fears: that the baby they had been raising for the past few months wasn’t theirs.
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The Cardinales were devastated when they learned that their second daughter was currently with another family, while they were raising someone else's child.
In September 2019, they welcomed the child into their home, and their suspicions were raised when the baby had a darker skin tone than themselves and their other daughter.
Initially, they put their fears aside and fell in love with the child. However, two months after her birth, they decided to have a home DNA test to finally put an end to their concerns.
Amazingly, they were able to contact the couple who had been affected by the mix up, and were able to come to a resolution: to simply switch babies.
However, both couples were upset they had missed out on giving birth to their biological children, and the first months of their lives.
The couples have decided to keep in contact ,and even consider themselves a blended family now.
Speaking about the difficulties of the situation, Alexander said: "There's no person to give you advice. So we ended up just sort of huddling together, the four of us, and it's a blessing that we all are on the same page. We've spent every holiday together since then. We've spent every birthday together since then — and we've just kind of blended the families.”
The two children have remained in contact, going to the same pre-school and even joining the same ballet class. They also spend each of their birthdays together.
The whole ordeal has negatively impacted the Cardinale family’s mental health, however.
They have since decided to file a lawsuit against the IVF clinic California Center for Reproductive Health (CCRH) and VitroTech Labs, an embryology lab.
The legal document reads: "Daphna was surgically implanted - against her will or knowledge - with the sperm and egg of a man and woman who were complete strangers to her.
"Meanwhile, Daphna and Alexander’s embryo was transferred to that same couple, Couple Two, a few weeks after Daphna’s transfer procedure. Couple Two carried to term and gave birth to a baby girl - Alexander and Daphna’s biological child - and raised her for months before Defendants’ mistakes were uncovered and proven."
UNILAD has contacted the CCRH and VitroTech Labs for comment.