Photo: FRANK RUMPENHORST / AFP / Getty Images
Two California couples spent months raising children who were not biologically theirs after giving birth to each other’s baby in a confusion occurred in a fertility clinic.
Daphna Cardinale, from 43 years , and her husband Alexander, from 41, were immediately surprised by their daughter’s appearance after her birth , because he did not look like any of them.
The California family, originally suppressed their doubts, because they fell in love with the baby and trusted their doctors and in the process of in vitro fertilization.
Subsequent tests showed that the baby was not biologically his and the IVF clinic confirmed that the lab had exchanged her embryo.
After spending time with the other couple and their p their biological daughter, they finally exchanged the babies when they were four months.
Daphna counted the lasting trauma of knowing months later that she had been pregnant with another couple’s baby and that another woman had been pregnant with her child.
I was overwhelmed by feelings of fear, betrayal, anger and anguish, ”she said during a press conference with her husband where they announced a lawsuit.
“They robbed me of the ability to carry my own child. I never had the opportunity to grow up and bond with her during pregnancy, to feel her kick. ”
The babies, both girls, were born with a week difference in September 2019.
Both couples unintentionally raised the wrong child for almost three months before DNA tests confirmed that the embryos were exchanged , according to the document.
The Cardinale complaint accuses the California Center for Reproductive Health (CCRH) and its owner, Dr. Eliran Mor, of medical malpractice, breach of contract, negligence and fraud.
Demands a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages from the Los Angeles-based firm.
The other two parents involved in the alleged confusion wish remain anonymous and plan a sim lawsuit ilar in the coming days, according to attorney Adam Wolf, who represents the four parents.
The lawsuit claims that CCRH mistakenly implanted the embryo of the other couple in Daphna and transferred the Cardinale embryo, made from Daphna’s egg and Alexander’s sperm, to the other woman.
“The Cardinales, including their little daughter, fell in love with this girl and were terrified that they would be taken away,” the complaint says.
“Meanwhile, Alexander and Daphna did not know the whereabouts of their own embryo and, therefore, they were terrified that another woman had been pregnant with their child, and their child was somewhere in the world without them. ”
Babies were exchanged in January 2020.
Confusions like this are extremely rare, but not unprecedented. In 2019, a Glendale, California couple sued a separate fertility clinic alleging that their embryo was mistakenly implanted in a New York woman, who gave birth to her child and a second child belonging to another couple.
Wolf, whose firm specializes in fertility cases, called for greater supervision at assisted fertility clinics.
“This case highlights an industry that desperately needs federal regulation,” he said.
Breaking the news to her oldest daughter, now 7, that the doctors made a mistake and that the new baby was not actually her sister “was the hardest thing in my life,” Daphna said.
” My heart breaks for her, perhaps the most, ”he told the Evening Standard newspaper.
Since then, the four parents have made an effort to stay in the life of the other and “building a bigger family,” Daphna said. “They were as in love with our biological daughter as we were with theirs,” Alexander said.
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