US mother forced to give up child after IVF embryo mix-up

A “broken” mother in the US has been forced to give up the child she carried to term and bonded with for five months after a horrifying mix-up at an IVF clinic.

38-year-old Krystena Murray from Savannah, Georgia, is suing Coastal Fertility Specialists after an embryo from another couple was implanted into her womb.

“The birth of my child was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life, and honestly, it was. But it was also the scariest moment of my life,” Murray said in a press conference with personal injury firm Peiffer Wolf.

Murray, a single white woman, had opted for IVF and chosen a sperm donor who was a white man with blue eyes and dirty blonde hair.

She went through the IVF process and gave birth to a baby boy in December 2023.

She told the press conference she had always wanted to be a mother and his birth was the realisation of a life’s dream.

But she knew something had gone wrong at the clinic. Her baby was black.

Krystena Murray said she knew something was wrong immediately. Photo / Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise

“My first thought was, ‘He’s beautiful’. My second thought was, ‘What happened?’”

She immediately questioned if the child was hers at all but bonded instantly with the little boy and nurtured him for five months as DNA tests were completed.

The results were clear. They shared no DNA.

And so, five months after she finally became a mum, she was forced to hand the boy over to his biological parents.

“I’ve never felt so violated,” an “emotionally and physically broken” Murray said during the press conference.

“I spent my entire life wanting to be a mum,” she said.

“I loved, nurtured and grew my child and I would have done literally anything to keep him.”

Krystena Murray told the press conference she wanted to make sure a similar mix-up would not happen to anyone else. Photo / Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise

Murray said the clinic’s actions had caused “irreparable damage” to her soul and left her questioning if she should be a mother.

“To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away,” Murray said.

“I’ll never fully recover from this.”

Lawyer Adam Wolf said his client still did not know what had happened to her own embryos and fertility clinics had a responsibility to avoid the “life-altering” consequences of errors.

In a statement released to the Associated Press, Coastal Fertility Specialists apologised for “an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up.”

“This was an isolated event with no further patients affected,” the statement said.

The clinic also said it had adopted new safeguards and is “doing everything we can to make things right for those affected by this incident”.

Krystena Murray has vowed to seek IVF treatment elsewhere. Photo / Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise

Murray said she considered the serious risks of IVF but wanted others to know what else could happen beyond the possible medical complications.

“Never once did I consider I might birth someone else’s child and have them taken from me,” she said. “And I feel like that should be something that women are aware of [as] an actual possibility.”

Despite the heartbreak, Murray said she plans to undergo IVF treatment at another clinic.

“I’m hoping to continue my journey to be a mum in the next year or two,’ she said.