It's an IVF bungle sending shockwaves around the country and could set a precedent in Australian law. A woman was implanted with the wrong embryo at the Monash IVF Brisbane clinic and gave birth to a baby which is not biologically hers. The company has apologised while two families are left to face an agonising reality.
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00:00In this Brisbane fertility clinic, the unthinkable took place.
00:06This is the first time I'm aware of anything like this happening in Australia.
00:11IVF is already an emotionally, financially and physically draining process.
00:16But for two couples, it's become a nightmare.
00:19After an embryo mix-up, a woman gave birth to a baby that was not biologically hers.
00:25Traumatising for every family involved and you just can't understand how anything like that could possibly happen.
00:31The ABC understands in early 2023, the clinic mistakenly transferred another patient's embryo to the birth mother.
00:39Sources say the child was born later that year.
00:42But Monash IVF says the error was picked up only in February this year,
00:47after the birth parents asked for their remaining embryos to be transferred to another IVF company.
00:53Instead of finding the expected number, an additional embryo remained in storage.
00:59The company has blamed human error and apologised, saying it's an isolated incident.
01:04An independent investigation is ongoing.
01:07I just don't know how this has happened.
01:09I can only imagine that was an error in the transcribing of information
01:16or the error in reading or an error in not following the witnessing steps that were set out.
01:21Professor Gab Kovacs is a former medical director at Monash IVF.
01:25He says the protocols are strict.
01:28For the last 40 years, the technique has been that there's always a double check.
01:33Somehow they both made a mistake at the same time.
01:37Queensland Health says the embryo transfer happened before new laws to regulate the industry were passed.
01:43The incident has raised complex legal and ethical questions, particularly around the rights of the child and both families.
01:51There have been similar instances overseas, but experts say it could set a legal precedent here in Australia.
01:58In Australia.
01:59In Australia.
02:00In Australia.
02:01In Australia.