A US couple are suing a fertility clinic, saying the company implanted their embryo into a different woman.<\/p>\n
The woman gave birth to twins in March, only for DNA tests to allegedly show the babies were not related to her or even to each other.<\/p>\n
Anni and Ashot Manukyan have now taken custody of one of the children.<\/p>\n
Both the Manukyans in California and the unnamed couple in New York who gave birth to the babies are suing CHA Fertility Center.<\/p>\n
The company has not yet commented on the lawsuits.<\/p>\n
“CHA robbed me of my ability to carry my own child, my baby boy,” Anni Manukyan told a press conference. “Who wants to meet their child in a lobby of a hotel?”<\/p>\n
The second baby boy allegedly comes from the egg and sperm of a third, unrelated couple. Court filings reportedly say the birth couple ceded custody of the child, and that the clinic has made contact with his biological parents – although they have not come forward publicly.<\/p>\n
The New York couple – identified only as AP and YZ in the lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0to protect them from “embarrassment and humiliation” – gave birth to two boys who were not of Asian descent, as they are.<\/p>\n Earlier signs during the course of the pregnancy also suggested something was wrong. Scans showed they were giving birth to boys, despite doctors saying they had used female embryos.<\/p>\n Ms and Mr Manukyan had unsuccessfully gone through IVF in August 2018 using an embryo they thought was theirs. The pair say they were then asked to take a DNA test after the birth of the twins in March.<\/p>\n Their lawsuit says the couple then discovered “much to their horror” that their son had been “implanted into a stranger that later became his birth mother”.<\/p>\n The couple then had to fight in the courts to reclaim their child, after the birth couple gave him up.<\/p>\n “What about the woman, you know? What is she going through right now?” Ms Manukyan told broadcaster CBS News<\/a>. “Thank God we got our child back but she ended up with nothing.”<\/p>\n The California lawsuit alleges negligence and emotional distress, as well as claiming CHA Fertility broke a state law preventing the use of embryos for any purpose other than that consented to by the provider.<\/p>\n Conviction on that charge could reportedly carry a prison sentence of between three and five years.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"