Callum Jones
A Florida couple are suing a fertility clinic after an 'embryo mix-up' lead to them having a baby they aren't even related to.
It sounds like something out of a movie, but such is very real for Tiffany Score and Steven Mills after welcoming their third child.
Due to struggles of conceiving naturally, the pair enlisted the help of IVF Life so they could have another kid. They went through IVF, which involves the woman's eggs and the man's sperm being fertilised outside of the mother's body.
Tiffany and Steven completed the procedure, and welcomed a baby girl recently. And while a new child into the world is meant to be a glorious time, the couple soon realised The Fertility Center of Orlando made a huge mistake.
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A lawsuit filed on January 2022 notes that both Tiffany and Steven are white, but their IVF-conceived newborn is 'a racially non-Caucasian child', as per multiple outlets including 6 News.
Genetic testing ultimately concluded that the baby was not biologically theirs. Despite this, Tiffany and Steven's lawyer, Jack Scarola, told the Orlando Sentinel that 'they have fallen in love with this child' and hope to raise her.
However, they are in constant worry that the child's biological parents could turn up at any time and 'take that baby away from them'.
The couple added to News6: "We would hope to be able to continue to raise her ourselves with confidence that she won’t be taken away from us.
"At the same time, we are aware that we have a moral obligation to find and notify her biological parents, as it is in her best interest that her genetic parents are provided the option to raise her as their own."
Tiffany and Steven are concerned that one of their fertilised eggs may have been implanted into someone else by mistake, and they are requesting IVF Life to stump up the fees involved for the genetic testing of every child born using their service in the past half-decade.
The Fertility Center of Orlando had stated on their website that they are 'actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them'.
However, this statement has since been deleted following a hearing for the case on Wednesday.
UNILAD has reached out to IVF Life for comment.