California: An Incredible Mistake in an IVF Clinic - Giving Birth to a Stranger's Baby
An unprecedented mistake in an in vitro fertilization clinic led two women to give birth and breastfeed each other's fetus. They took legal action against the clinic.
An unprecedented mistake was made at an in vitro fertilization clinic in California , when a woman realized that she had given birth to someone else's child, after she was given the wrong fetus by the clinic.
According to the couple, Daphna and Alexander Cardinale, in September 2019, gave birth to a baby girl who did not look like them at all, so they decided to proceed with a DNA test.
At the same time, they located the other couple who also gave birth to a baby girl in the same clinic and decided to exchange the two girls after months, while they filed a lawsuit against the clinic for the mistake.
The couple is seeking a jury trial and compensation. According to the lawsuit, it is a medical error, negligence and fraudulent concealment.
However, this is not the first such case during in vitro fertilization.
In an emotional press conference on Monday, Ms Cardinale said "her family's grief and confusion can not be underestimated".
"Our memories of childbirth will always be traumatic from the sick reality that our biological child was given to someone else and the baby I struggled to bring into this world was not mine to keep."
She later said that "she was robbed of the opportunity to conceive her own child".
In the delivery room, Mr. Cardinale was expecting a child like their firstborn, but was surprised to see the baby girl "with much darker skin".
Almost two months later, the family decided to have a DNA test, which found that they had no biological relationship with the baby.
They then found the couple from California who had given birth to their daughter a week apart. The Cardinales' daughter was about four months old when they first met. After several meetings, the couples agreed to go through the legal process of the official exchange of babies, which took place in January 2020.
"Instead of breastfeeding my own child, I breastfed and bonded with a child I was later forced to give up," Cardinale told a news conference.
He added that the incident was even more difficult for the couple's seven-year-old daughter, who had a hard time understanding the exchange.
"The horror of this situation can not be underestimated," they say in the lawsuit.
The second family also plans to take legal action, according to the family's lawyer, but wishes to remain anonymous.
