According to information from the Israeli media Haaretz, relayed by BFM TV this Friday, September 16, an eight-month pregnant woman who had resorted to in vitro fertilization discovered that she was carrying the child of another couple. An investigation will be conducted to identify the fetus and find the mother’s embryo.
A mistake with serious consequences. After having recourse to in vitro fertilization performed at Assuta Hospital in Rishon LeZion south of Tel Aviv (Israel), it was during a routine examination that an eight-month-pregnant woman learned the unthinkable . At eight months of pregnancy, the future mother indeed discovered that the doctors had inseminated another embryo than hers. The fetus she was carrying in her womb therefore had no genetic link with her or her companion. For its part, according to information from the Israeli media Haaretz, relayed by BFM TV this Friday, September 16, the medical establishment specializing in fertility treatment evokes a “incident”. “The case in question at Rishon LeZion was reviewed last night. Experienced doctors were mobilized, and the case was immediately forwarded to the Ministry of Health“, announced the management of this center which carries out half of the in vitro fertilizations in the country each year. The investigation aims to identify the origin of the fetus and whether the couple’s embryo was inseminated to another woman. As the media indicates, genetic tests will soon be carried out on around forty individuals who had recourse to this procedure on the same day. “When embryos are thawed, two people must be present. Names must be checked, unfortunately to err is human. And this error is serious”, Professor Cyrille Cohen told Haaretz. And to continue by asking: “There are two essential questions: who owns these embryos? Where are the embryos of this mother?”
Embryo exchange: a previous case in the United States
In 2021, a couple from Los Angeles (United States) filed a complaint against a clinic specializing in in vitro fertilization after realizing thatthey had given birth to another family’s child. Indeed, when Daphna and Alexander Cardinale saw their newborn for the first time, in September 2019, they immediately noticed that the little girl had darker skin and hair than the rest of the family.
After the discovery of this mistake, the two couples got to know each other and decided to regain custody of their genetic offspring. “When the truth emerged, swapping the kids made things even more upsetting. Losing the child you know for the genetic child you don’t know yet is truly an impossible nightmare.“had declared the Cardinale family.