Woman at IVF Clinic Gives Birth to Wrong Baby

An IVF clinic in Australia made a simple mistake with not-so-simple consequences: A woman gave birth to the wrong baby after the facility mixed up embryos, reports the BBC. Monash IVF in Brisbane says the woman was implanted with an embryo from another couple, a mistake that came to light only after the successful birth. It seems the couple with the newborn asked the clinic to transfer their remaining embryos to another clinic, and there was one too many still present, per the Guardian.

"An investigation confirmed that an embryo from a different patient had previously been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents, which resulted in the birth of a child," says a clinic spokesperson. The facility blamed it on human error and promised to tighten protocols. Neither couple has been identified, and it was not immediately clear how they planned to deal with the fallout.

"On behalf of Monash IVF, I want to say how truly sorry I am for what has happened," Monash CEO Michael Knapp tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The mix-up comes less than a year after the clinic paid a $56 million settlement to hundreds of couples whose viable embryos were mistakenly destroyed because of a faulty screening. (More IVF stories.)