A Georgia woman is suing a fertility clinic after a mix-up led to her giving birth to another couple’s child. Krystena Murray, 38, claims that the wrong embryo was implanted in her, and she only discovered the error after giving birth.
Murray, a wedding photographer from Savannah, had planned to have a child with the help of a sperm donor through Coastal Fertility Specialists. She chose a donor who resembled her with blonde hair and blue eyes. However, when Murray delivered the baby in December 2023, she immediately noticed something was wrong. The baby was dark-skinned, while Murray had expected a child with similar features to hers.
“I was terrified that the baby would be taken from me,” Murray said in an emotional interview. Despite the shock, she bonded with the baby and even took a DNA test. The results confirmed that the baby was not biologically hers.
In February 2024, Murray informed Coastal Fertility about the mix-up. The clinic then identified the baby’s biological parents, who filed for custody. Five months later, Murray was forced to give up the baby in a heart-wrenching court battle.
Murray’s attorney, Adam Wolf, expressed frustration over the lack of answers regarding her own embryos. “We don’t know where Krystena’s embryos are or if they were implanted in another woman,” Wolf said.
The lawsuit accuses Coastal Fertility Specialists and Dr. Jeffrey Gray, the clinic’s director, of negligence. In response, the clinic issued an apology and promised to implement new safeguards to prevent similar errors in the future.
Fertility clinic mix-ups are rare, but they have occurred before. In 2019, a couple sued a fertility clinic after giving birth to another couple’s twins. In 2021, two couples filed lawsuits after accidentally raising each other’s biological children due to a mix-up.
Dov Fox, a law professor at the University of San Diego, highlighted the lack of federal oversight of IVF clinics in the U.S., leaving patients vulnerable to such errors.
Until regulations improve, Wolf warned that such incidents may continue. “Until IVF clinics are subject to real regulations, these types of errors will continue,” he said.
Murray continues to see the baby as her own. “I loved, nurtured, and grew my child. I would have done anything to keep him,” she said.
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