'Broken': Georgia woman who gave birth to someone else's baby sues fertility clinic
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — A Georgia woman says her journey to motherhood has left her “emotionally and physically broken,” and now she is suing the company responsible.
Even as a child, Krystena Murray, 38, of Savannah, always told people it was her dream to be a mom. Two years ago, she became pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization, a life-changing procedure for people trying to have a child.
She said her joy was taken away within seconds of delivery after discovering that the fertility clinic had made a fateful mistake. She is now suing Coastal Fertility Specialists for negligence.
Murray had turned to Coastal Fertility Specialists to help her get pregnant. She began treatment in early 2023 and became pregnant the second time an embryo was implanted in her uterus. She gave birth in December 2023, but within 15 seconds of the baby boy’s arrival, her life had changed forever.
“He was beautiful and literally the best thing I had ever seen. But it was also immediately apparent that he was African-American,” said Murray, who, along with her sperm donor, is white.
Murray said she later learned doctors had transferred another patient’s embryo instead of her own. She filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against Coastal Fertility Specialists, alleging the clinic’s negligence caused her ongoing pain and anguish.
“The fertility clinic has hurt me in ways that I have yet to discover, and there are literally no words or unit of measure that can describe the damage that they have caused,” explains Murray.
The clinic had implanted the wrong embryo into Murray’s body, meaning she gave birth to someone else’s son.
“The baby she delivered was African-American. It was clear to Krystena that coastal fertility specialist had made an unimaginable error,” said Adam Wolf, Murray’s attorney. “A DNA test then confirmed that this is in fact what had occurred. Coastal fertility had transferred to Krystena an embryo that belonged to another couple.”
Murray knew immediately that the baby didn’t develop from one of her own lab-fertilized eggs.
“My first thought is he’s beautiful. My second thought was what happened?” said Murray. “Did they mess up the embryo or did they mess up the sperm? And if they messed up the embryo, can someone take my son?”
That’s exactly the situation she faced.
Knowing she was not the biological mother and would not win a legal battle, after caring and loving her son for five months, she gave him up to the couple whose egg she had carried.
“I obviously would have kept him forever if I could have, and I would have done anything to have done that,” said Murray. “But that was not an option. So I did what was best for him and made that process as quick and easy as possible with the hopes that this would hopefully not affect him and his growth and development in the future, that he could go and bond with his new family and that this would not be something that would have lifelong effects on him.”
Murray said after reporting the mix-up to the fertility clinic, its staff tracked down and notified the baby’s biological parents, who demanded custody.
“My child was ultimately taken from me as the clinic had implanted into my womb the embryo from a stranger. I have never felt so violated, and this situation has left me emotionally and physically broken,” said Murray.
“I’ll never be the same woman. I will never fully heal or completely move on. And part of me will always long for my son and wonder what kind of person he’s becoming.”
Her lawsuit says the clinic’s “extreme and outrageous” mistake caused Murray to be “turned into an unwitting surrogate, against her will, for another couple.” She’s seeking unspecified monetary damages.
“I can tell you that carrying a child who is not yours unknowingly and loving them, creating a whole life for them, birthing them, knowing they’re not yours, loving them anyway, and wanting them. I honestly would have just chosen not to become a mother,” she said.
Wolf said while this situation is impossibly sad, Murray is far from alone.
“Coastal Fertility made a serious mistake and the consequences are life-altering for Krystena,” Wolf said. “This is not the first IVF mixed-up case that I’ve handled, and sadly, it will not be the last. A big reason is the lack of regulation. Unfortunately, the United States is one of the few developed countries without meaningful oversight over fertility clinic laboratories. Until IVF clinics are subject to real regulations, reporting requirements and mandatory certification programs for lab staff these types of errors will continue to occur.”
Coastal Fertility Specialists operates a clinic in Savannah and four others in neighboring South Carolina. The medical practice apologized in an emailed statement for what it called “an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up.” It said the staff has adopted new safeguards to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future.
“This was an isolated event with no further patients affected,” the statement said. “We are doing everything we can to make things right for those affected by this incident.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
