Krystena Murray, a now 38-year-old woman from Georgia, thought she was delivering her own baby boy in December 2023. Instead, she gave birth to an unknown couple’s child. Now, she’s suing the fertility clinic that allegedly implanted the embryo in her uterus.
Per a press release from Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise – the woman’s legal representation – the lawsuit was filed in Georgia state court. It alleges that Coastal Fertility Specialists, a group that operates fertility clinics in Georgia and South Carolina, is guilty of negligence, gross negligence, bailment, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, battery/lack of informed consent, violations of the Georgia Fair Businesses Practices Act and violations of the South Carolina Fair Businesses Practices Act.
Murray chose Coastal Fertility Specialists “in part because of reassuring messages on its website,” the law firm explained. It said the clinics’ website proclaimed that “there is no safer place for [one’s] embryos.”
With the help of the clinic, Murray planned to become pregnant with her eggs and sperm from a donor that she selected. Peiffer Wolf noted that both Murray and the donor are white.
During the process to get pregnant, Murray attended many appointments over the course of several months and underwent numerous medical tests. She was prescribed drugs to stimulate egg development and ovulation that were administered daily via injection for over two weeks. Murray went to Coastal Fertility Specialists’ Savannah, Ga., facility often for examinations and tests during this period.
“On the day of the egg-retrieval surgery, Krystena had several eggs extracted and was in pain,” said Peiffer Wolf. “Coastal Fertility then used Krystena’s retrieved eggs and created embryos using the donor’s sperm.”
However, those embryos apparently were not transferred into her uterus in May 2023. An embryo from strangers she never met was transferred into her body instead, Peiffer Wolf said. Murray, unaware of the switch, was elated when she found out that the transfer was successful and that she was pregnant.
“More than anything, Krystena’s joy and hope were based on the knowledge that she would soon begin bonding with her baby, both in the womb and after birth, raising her baby through childhood and eventually shepherding him into adulthood,” said her lawyers.
However, when Murray gave birth, she immediately knew something was amiss. Although she and the donor she selected were both white, she gave birth to a Black baby boy. Even though she suspected the baby was not from her embryos, she had bonded with him over her nine months of pregnancy and returned home to bond with the baby she had delivered.
While Murray was overjoyed to become a mother, the obvious difference between her and her baby left her with questions. She wanted to know whose embryo had been transferred into her uterus and she was scared that the child would be taken from her.
When she did leave home to go out in public, “people were not kind or diplomatic,” according to the complaint. Often, they would ask if the child was her baby.
Still, Murray was happy to care for the newborn. She “breast-fed him, took him to doctor’s appointments, and cuddled him throughout the day,” said Peiffer Wolf.
“He quickly became her best friend, her daily companion, and her source of strength,” the law firm added. “Yet, Krystena’s new life with her baby boy was full of anxiety. Every time the doorbell rang, she worried it would be someone who was there to take her child away.”
Those fears would soon become a reality.
Eventually, Murray requested a DNA test and last January she received results that confirmed the baby was not related to her. In March 2024, Coastal Fertility told the couple whose embryo had been implanted in Murray about the mix-up. The couple then sued her for custody of the baby and she had to hire family law counsel in multiple states.
Another DNA test revealed that the couple was indeed the biological parents of the boy Murray had given birth to. Her lawyers told her that she would have to give them the baby.
“Not wanting to make the situation any harder on her child, Krystena gave up her baby during a family-court hearing in May 2024,” Peiffer Wolf said. “After spending every moment with her child for the prior five months, Krystena has not seen her child ever since.”
The firm said their client had to spend a “horrifying amount of money and time” on the custody case, on top of suffering from severe emotional, physical and economic injuries due to the ordeal of becoming an unknowing and unwilling surrogate for another couple. Childbirth is not without its own risks – according to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 22.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the U.S. Murray also later moved out of her home since it reminded her of the baby and her experience losing him.
“This has destroyed me. I’m heartsick; I’m emotionally broken,” said Murray. “Nothing can express the shock and violation upon learning that your doctor put a stranger’s embryo into your body. To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away. I’ll never fully recover from this.”
Murray’s lawsuit is seeking a judgement in excess of $75,000 as well as damages and attorney fees. USA TODAY reached out to Coastal Fertility Specialists for comment on the issue.
“Coastal Fertility Specialists made a very serious error, and the consequences are life-altering. This should never happen in a fertility clinic,” said Adam Wolf, partner at Peiffer Wolf.
Wolf also stressed that the U.S. does not have “meaningful” fertility industry oversight, leaving patients vulnerable to situations like the one Murray found herself in. Another case in recent years related to fertility procedures resulted in a Florida woman being awarded $5.25 million in damages after a Vermont fertility doctor used his own sperm to impregnate her back in the 1970s.
While on the campaign trail this summer, President Donald Trump said that his administration would mandate that insurance companies pay for in-vitro fertilization. He also recently signed an executive order to reduce the costs of IVF.
Going forward, Murray has further questions for Coastal Fertility Specialists.
“To this day, Ms. Murray does not know if Coastal Fertility transferred to yet another couple an embryo that belonged to Ms. Murray and that should have been transferred to her,” said the complaint. “She does not know if her biologically related child is being raised by anyone else.”