A woman in Australia has unknowingly given birth to a stranger’s baby, after her fertility clinic accidentally implanted another woman’s embryo into her.
Australian media reports the mix-up at Mon-ash IVF in Brisbane, Queensland, has been blamed on human error.
Last year, the same clinic paid a $56m settlement to hundreds of patients whose embryos were destroyed despite them being viable.
According to a spokesperson for Mon-ash IVF, staff became aware of the problem in February when the birth parents asked to transfer their remaining frozen embryos to another clinic.
It confirmed that an embryo from another patient was mistakenly thawed and transferred to the wrong person, resulting in the birth of the child.
The clinic has launched an investigation and the incident has been referred to regulatory bodies.
