A woman from Georgia is demanding a fertility clinic after a confusion of in vitro fertilization (IVF) supposedly led the staff to implement the wrong embryo and she will give birth to the biological son of another couple.
Krystena Murray, 38, from Savannah, said she selected a sperm donor who looked like her “with dirty blond hair and blue eyes.” She became pregnant and gave a baby in December 2023, according to demand.
However, Murray, who is white and, according to the complaint, had a white sperm donor, was surprised when he gave birth and the baby he delivered was African -American, according to the demand.
Murray joined the baby and wanted to keep him, despite knowing that the clinic, coastal fertility specialists (CFS), had probably implanted another person’s embryo, according to demand.
She requested a DNA test that confirmed her fears that the baby was not genetically related to her. When Murray contacted the clinic, the staff alerted the biological parents of the baby of confusion, according to the demand.
The other couple sued Murray for custody, and she gave the baby five months after giving birth. She said she hasn’t seen it since then.
“At first I asked if I was destined to be a mother, because I had tried for a long time,” he told ABC News. “This is something that really happens, and is devastating, and can ruin someone’s life and realize that it is a real possibility.”
On Tuesday afternoon there was a lawsuit at the Chatham County State Court in Georgia.
Krystena Murray, 38 (left), from Savannah, is demanding coastal fertility specialists after the wrong embryo was supposedly implanted. Here he appears with his lawyer, Adam Wolf (right).
ABC News
Murray said he had dreamed of being a mother. When asked at an early age what he wanted to be, his answer was: a mother.
“They really referred to the race, but, my young mind, that is what I wanted to do with my life was to be a mother,” he said. “I spent most of my younger years thinking that I needed to have the perfect person or spouse to start a family and, once I began to grow, I realized that my priorities changed, and I wanted to continue being a mother sooner than later. “
For about 18 months before contacting the SFC, he said he tried intrauterine insemination without success. During a press conference on Tuesday, Murray said he contacted CFS, who operates clinics in Georgia and South Carolina, either at the end of 2022 or early 2023.
For several months, Murray said he attended many appointments that included monitoring and blood test exams. It also underwent daily injections for a period of two weeks to stimulate ovaries to increase egg production, according to demand.
Murray went through egg recovery surgery and became pregnant during his second transfer in May 2023, he said. She gave birth at the end of December 2023.
“Then, the first time I saw my son, like any mother, it was beautiful and literally the best I have seen, but it was also immediately evident that it was African American,” Murray said during the press conference. “I would like to say that my first thought is: ‘It’s beautiful’. My second thought was: ‘What happened? That was all over the first 10 or 15 seconds that I saw it.”
Murray said he loved the baby and joined him, breastfeeding him and leading him to medical appointments, but knew that the clinic had made an error in some way.
She bought a DNA test at home and received results at the end of January 2024, confirming that the baby was not genetically related to her, according to the demand.
Murray’s lawyers communicated with CFS in February 2024 to share Murray’s fears, according to the lawsuit. In March 2024, the clinic realized its error and approached biological parents to inform them that their embryo had been transferred to Murray, according to the demand.
The biological parents sued Murray for the child’s custody. Another DNA test confirmed that the baby was genetically related to them, according to demand.
Murray said he wanted to keep the baby and hired a family law lawyer, but, after a “tremendous amount of money and time,” they told him that he would probably lose his case.
During a hearing at the Family Court in May 2024, Murray said he voluntarily handed the baby to the other couple, marking the last time he saw him.
Murray said that delivering it to his biological parents was “the most difficult day of my life.”
“I think of him every day. There is no day that I don’t ask me what he’s doing,” he told ABC News. “I raised him for five months, but I couldn’t see his first steps. I don’t know what his first words are. I don’t know, what milestones he is hitting.”
“I am not aware of what kind of person is becoming or how it is growing and developing, and it is very difficult, and I think of him every day and I wonder how he is,” he added.
According to his demand, Murray said he does not know what happened to his own embryo, if he was also transferred by error to another couple or that resulted in a pregnancy.
Murray said the process asked maternity questions, but said he is currently receiving treatment at another clinic and hopes he can become a mother soon.
In vitro fertilization or IVF
Peter Hansen/Stock Photo/Getty Images
His demand against CFS and part of his staff was filed by the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise for negligence, serious negligence, bond, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, aggression, lack of informed consent, violations of the Law of Fair Commercial Practices of Georgia and violations of the Law on Commercial Practices Deslegas de Carolina del Sur.
The lawyers are looking for a trial for more than $ 75,000, as well as punitive damage, recovered lawyer fees, recovered acute damage and all other costs. CFS did not immediately respond to the request for comments from ABC News.
Murray’s lawyer, Adam Wolf, said he has represented more than 1,000 people against fertility clinics due to errors that supposedly occurred during his treatments. He described Murray’s experience as the “most wild fear” of a patient.
“Having done this work for 13 years, when you enter a fertility clinic, there is a risk that they do not have as many eggs as I expected, or create as many embryos as you would like,” he told ABC News. “It is possible that it leaves that process without having any embryo. But what you never think of your wildest fear is that your fertility clinic would transfer an embryo that belongs to another person. That is beyond the pale, and should never It happens in a fertility clinic. “
He said that this leads CFS to change its processes and procedures, so an error like this does not happen again and that more safeguards are implemented throughout the fertility industry throughout the country.
Murray said he hopes to provide more awareness by sharing their history and that other patients who go through something similar know that they are not alone.
“You’re not alone and you use your voice. Don’t be silenced,” he said. “I feel that if we do not introduce ourselves and do not speak our truth and we do not share our experiences, then there will never be changes, and this will only be a repetitive cycle. And use your voice, if not for you, because we cannot change the situation in which We are, then do it for another person. “
