A Los Angeles couple sued a reproductive clinic Monday for malpractice and negligence, accusing the fertility center of impregnating them with the wrong embryo after she gave birth to another family’s child.
The couple said doctors implanted another couple's embryo in the woman's body during an in vitro fertilization treatment.
Daphna and Alexander Cardinale further allege the Dr. Eliran Mor and the California Center for Reproductive Health "recklessly, negligently, and/or knowingly lost or actively decided" gave their rightful child's embryo to another couple, Superior Court filings showed.
The Cardinales said the baby Daphna gave birth to had black hair and a darker complexion than any of their family members.
"Genetic testing revealed that the baby Alexander and Daphna delivered and raised for months was not genetically related to them," the couple's attorney said. "Their baby was the biological child of complete strangers."
The lawsuit said the couple eventually decided to switch babies.
The action also targets the reproductive center, medical director Dr. Mor, Beverly Sunset Surgical Associates, and In VitroTech Labs, Inc., which attorneys said they later discovered is also owned by Mor. In addition, the plaintiffs accuse More of engaging "in self-dealing from one company to the other."
The couple, which hopes to go to trial before a jury, hopes to recoup damages for emotional distress in addition to other various costs.
IVF is a method of assisted reproduction where scientists fertilize a woman's egg with a man's sperm in a lab before implanting it in a woman's womb.
"Going through IVF is a very painful process physically and emotionally, involving injections, hormone treatments, blood tests, countless office visits, and even surgery," said Daphna Cardinale in a statement released by the couple’s lawyer according to the City News Service.
"We came to it with incredible vulnerability and trust in our doctor and in the process. We had no idea, at the time, that this greatest potential for joy would bring us such enduring pain and trauma. After discovering the truth of what had happened to our family, I was overwhelmed with fear, betrayal, anger, and heartbreak. It was torture that shook me to my core and forever changed who I am," the statement continued.
The other couple was implanted with the Cardinale’s embryo and delivered a healthy baby. But it took months to realize and prove the mistake that the reproductive center had made. As a result, neither couple met their biological baby until they were several months old.
"Meanwhile, they were forced to give up forever the daughter whom Daphna carried to term and with whom their whole family had irrevocably bonded," the statement read. "The long-term consequences of this baby swap continue to haunt their entire family."
City News Service contributed to this report.
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