White couple sues fertility clinic after wife gives birth to Asian child

An Essex county couple is suing a New Jersey fertility clinic after they say the clinic mixed up the father's sperm with another man's.

News 12 Staff

Sep 11, 2019, 11:34 AM

Updated 1,687 days ago

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An Essex county couple is suing a New Jersey fertility clinic after they say the clinic mixed up the father's sperm with another man's.
David Mazie, an attorney for the Verona couple, says that they started to notice that the daughter did not look like the father when the child was around 2-years-old. That is when they had a blood test performed.
“[The mother] carried the baby…had the baby and then to find out that the baby isn't fully genetically theirs was devastating,” Mazie says.
The couple went to the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at St. Barnabas to have their daughter through in vitro fertilization.
“It wasn’t until she was 2 or 3 years old that they started noticing that she looked different and started coming up with Asian features and they're both Caucasian,” Mazie says. “That's when they went ahead and got the genetic testing and found out that someone else's sperm was used."
A judge recently ruled that the fertility clinic will have to release the names of the men who donated at the clinic the day the father's sperm was collected and on the day of fertilization.
“This motion, which we just won, takes care of some of the other issues in the case…The father here wants to know what happened to his sperm. Does he have other kids?” says Mazie. “The other thing is, they want to know the genetic history of their daughter and that's important to them and possibly the man whose sperm was used. Maybe she'll have a relationship with him."
Polina Amburg runs an infertility support group for parents. She says that a mix-up like this is something these parents - who are already under immense stress - shouldn't have to fear.
“At the end, you think you have all these checks and there still a problem. It's very, very upsetting and very stressful,” Amburg says.
Mazie says that one of the goals of the lawsuit is to make sure that this type of situation does not happen at any clinic ever again.
“They’ve got to make sure their policies and procedures are strict and that they're ironclad,” he says.
News 12 New Jersey reached out to the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science for comment and is waiting for a response.


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