Woman gives birth to stranger’s baby in Australia embryo mix-up

A woman in Australia has unknowingly given birth to a stranger’s baby, after her fertility clinic accidentally implanted another woman’s embryos into her.

The mix-up at Monash IVF in Brisbane, Queensland has been blamed on human error, Australian media reports.

“On behalf of Monash IVF, I want to say how truly sorry I am for what has happened,” CEO Michael Knaap said, adding that everyone at the fertility clinic was “devastated” at the mistake.

Last year, the same clinic paid a A$56m (£26.8m) settlement to hundreds of patients whose embryos were destroyed despite them being viable.

According to a spokesperson for Monash IVF, staff became aware of the problem in February when the birth parents asked to transfer their remaining frozen embryos to another clinic.

“Instead of finding the expected number of embryos, an additional embryo remained in storage,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by ABC.

Monash has confirmed that an embryo from another patient had been mistakenly thawed and transferred to the wrong person, resulting in the birth of a child.

The clinic has launched an investigation and the incident has been referred to regulatory bodies. Mr Knaap said the clinic was confident it was an isolated incident.

Last year, Monash IVF reached a A$56m (£26.8m) settlement in a landmark class action with 700 former patients for destroying embryos after inaccurate genetic testing.

The case found that about 35% of the embryos, which were actually normal and could have resulted in a viable pregnancy, were found to be abnormal by the faulty screening.

IVF – or in vitro fertilisation – involves the removal of eggs from a woman’s ovaries, which are then fertilised with sperm in a laboratory. When the fertilised eggs become embryos, they are inserted into the woman’s uterus.

It is an expensive process and not successful every time.

In 2021 there were 20,690 babies born as a result of IVF in Australia and New Zealand, according to a report by the University of New South Wales.