A white couple in New Jersey is suing their fertility clinic after they gave birth to an Asian baby.
A judge ordered the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas to turn over its list of sperm donors, so that the couple may learn who their child’s biological father is.
The couple is seeking damages in the case.
A white couple is suing their fertility clinic after they gave birth to an Asian baby.
The unnamed couple from New Jersey said they paid the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas $500,000 to get pregnant with a child of their own, according to court documents viewed by NJ.com.
But after giving birth to a daughter in July 2013, they grew concerned when she developed Asian features, the New Jersey Law Journal reports.
Eventually, they underwent DNA testing and learned that the girl was not biologically related to her father.
Sperm Bank Frozen Fertility Clinic
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The couple have since divorced and blame their relationship ending on this traumatic discovery.
They believe that the fertility clinic mixed up their sperm with another donor’s and are suing to learn the identity of their child’s biological father.
In a recent win for the ex-couple, on August 28 an Essex County judge ordered the Livingston, New Jersey clinic to turn over their list of sperm donors.
Read more: An Ohio dad is suing a fertility clinic after a DNA kit revealed he wasn’t related to his daughter
The clinic had been fighting the lawsuit on the grounds of patient privacy, but the judge said that the clinic doesn’t need to release the names or addresses of all the donors, just the man whose sperm was used in the process.
The parents’ attorney, David Mazie, said they are also concerned that his client’s sperm may have been used to father other children, and if so, he wants to have a relationship with those children.
“I would very much like to be involved,” he said in his deposition, according to NJ.com “I think, as children, you want to know who — who and where you came from. And — I believe I’m a very good person. And I’d like them to know who I am, as a person, learn about me as much as I learned about my mother and father…”
The couple is seeking damages in the case.
The Saint Barnabas Medical Center did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment Wednesday morning.
Read more:
The former medical director of the fertility clinic that mixed up 3 couples’ embryos was once sued for having a sexual relationship with one of his patients
Couple describes the horror of learning a stranger gave birth to their baby boy in a fertility clinic mix-up, forcing them to sue for custody of their child
A woman with a transplanted uterus from a deceased donor gave birth — for the first time in the US and the second time in the world
A couple is suing their fertility clinic after they gave birth to twin boys who turned out to be the children of 2 other couples
