Mom Loses Custody of 5-Month-Old Baby After Finding Out Wrong Embryo Was Implanted During IVF

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When Krystena Murray gave birth to the baby boy she had been pregnant with, she immediately realized he could not be hers. Murray, a 38-year-old single woman from Savannah, Georgia, had enlisted the help of Coastal Fertility Specialists to get pregnant. The company was supposed fertilize her egg with a donor’s sperm and then implant the embryo. She chose a sperm donor who was similar to her in appearance: dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and white. Yet when she delivered the baby on December 29, 2023, the child doctors placed in her arms was Black.

Murray simply took care of the child: breastfeeding him, taking him to doctor’s appointments, and cuddling him throughout the day, CBS News reported. Like many mothers, Murray was an anxious new mom, but not the normal postpartum feelings. She was concerned about her child’s identity and whether or not he was genetically related to her. As a result, she never posted photos of him online and didn’t allow her friends and family to see him.

Eventually, she ordered a DNA kit. The results, which arrived in late January 2024, confirmed her suspicions. The child was not biologically hers. 

Krystena Murray became pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization two years ago, and said she was unaware until she gave birth that the fertility clinic had made a fateful mistake. https://t.co/yIGF4ZGXgc

— KKTV 11 News (@KKTV11News) February 19, 2025

On February 5, 2024, Murray contacted the fertility clinic. It alerted the baby’s biological parents of the mix-up. When the boy was 3 months old, his parents sued Murray for custody. “To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away. I’ll never fully recover from this,” Murray said through her attorney.

Advised that she would eventually lose a custody battle, Murray voluntarily surrendered custody of the child she had carried and raised in May 2024. She hasn’t seen him since. 

Now, Murray is suing Coastal Fertility Specialist for $75,000 and other damages. The clinic has acknowledged its mistake. In a statement to NBC and The Washington Post, the clinic wrote, “Coastal Fertility Specialists deeply regrets the distress caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up. While this ultimately led to the birth of a healthy child, we recognize the profound impact this situation has had on the affected families, and we extend our sincerest apologies.”

This is not the first time such a mistake like this has happened, CBS reported. In 2023, a Texas couple sued their fertility clinic for implanting the wrong sperm. A New York couple’s embryo was implanted in a complete stranger. In California, the surrogate a same-sex couple chose gave birth to a daughter instead of the son they had requested.

Adam Wolf, Murray’s attorney, says this is not the first IVF case he’s taken on, “and sadly, it won’t be the last.” He added, “Until IVF clinics are subject to real regulations, reporting requirements and mandatory certification programs for lab staff, these types of errors will continue to occur.”

As for Murray, she says she has no desire to undergo another IVF cycle. Still, she hopes to become a parent in the future. “I’ll be 39 soon,” she told People. “I’m hoping to continue my journey to be a mom in the next year or two.”