A Florida mom who gave birth last month is now suing an IVF clinic, saying a baby she gave birth to has “no genetic relationship” to either parent, according to a lawsuit.
The Fertility Center of Orlando was named in the lawsuit as a defendant. The lawsuit claims that the anonymous couple — identified only as John and Jane Doe in the filing — began using the center's services in March 2025.
The woman had an embryo implanted that she believed contained both the Plaintiffs’ DNA, and carried the child through a successful full-term pregnancy.
In early December, the woman gave birth to a “beautiful, health female child,” the lawsuit states. But the baby, identified as Baby Doe in court documents, appeared to be a different race, the suit claims.
“While both Jane Doe and John Doe are racially Caucasian, Baby Doe displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,” the lawsuit states.
This alleged discrepancy caused the couple to “employ genetic testing of the percentage of the child to whom they had given birth,” the lawsuit says. “The testing confirmed that Baby Doe has no genetic relationship to either of the Plaintiffs,” it continues.
“Of equal concern to the (couple) is the obvious possibility that someone else was implanted with one or more of their embryos and... is presently parenting one or more of their children,” the lawsuit added.
The lawsuit says that the couple have developed an "intensely strong emotional bond" to the child "despite the certain knowledge that Baby Doe is not their genetically matched child.” It continues that they would be happy keeping the little girl, but they understand that she should be “legally” and “morally” united with her genetic parents.
"[The couple] would willingly keep her in their care; however, for the sake of both Baby Doe and her genetic parents, they recognize that Baby Doe should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able, and willing to take her," the lawsuit says.
The couple “have an equally compelling right to be fully informed of the disposition of their own embryos and to be relieved of the ever-increasing mental anguish of not knowing whether a child or children belonging to them are in someone else’s care,” the lawsuit continues.
The Independent has requested comment from the couple’s attorneys.
According to News 6 Orlando, the couple has asked the clinic to ask for help identifying their daughter's biological family, but never received a response.
The Independent has contacted The Fertility Center of Orlando for comment. It was not immediately clear which law firm is representing the center or the doctor named in the lawsuit.
The filing demands emergency relief from the court that will compel the clinic to disclose to all of its patients details of the complaint so they can determine whether the girl is their biological child, and if they received the couple’s embryos instead.
The lawsuit also demands that the clinic pays for genetic testing for all relevant patients and their children over the past five years while they had custody of the couple’s embryos. Finally, the suit asks for the clinic to disclose any discrepancy in the parentage of the children of all patients whose birth resulted from embryo implantation through the the last five years.
