Florida couple in IVF clinic’s embryo mix-up will keep baby who isn’t genetically theirs

A Florida couple embroiled in an embryo mix-up will keep their infant after reaching a custody agreement with the baby’s biological parents.

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Tiffany Score and Steven Mills sued the Fertility Center of Orlando and its lead reproductive endocrinologist in January after learning that the daughter whom Score had given birth to a month earlier was not genetically related to her or Mills.

Score and Mills, who are both white, had undergone in vitro fertilization at the Longwood, Florida, clinic and pursued genetic testing because their baby “displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,” their lawsuit said. The testing revealed that the baby, named Shea, was 100% South Asian, according to Score and Mills’ attorney.

The suit prompted a search for the couple whose embryo had been mistakenly implanted into Score and, in April, attorneys for Score and Mills announced that Shea’s biological parents had been found. The names of the biological parents, identified in court documents only as Patient 004, have been kept confidential.

In a court filing Friday, Mara Hatfield, Score and Mills’ attorney, wrote that her clients and Patient 004 had “come to a mutually devised custody agreement” that recognizes Score and Mills’ rights as the “permanent custodial parents of their daughter.” No additional details were provided.

Rob Marcereau, an attorney representing Shea’s biological parents, said in an email that they “intend to remain a part of this child’s life, while recognizing the impossible situation that both families have been placed in, through no fault of their own.”

Circuit Court Judge Margaret Schreiber expressed support for the news in a court hearing Monday.

“I’m glad the parties have reached an agreement while this child is relatively young,” Schreiber said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The custody agreement is a significant development in Score and Mills’ extraordinary situation, which has little precedent: Embryo mix-ups are known to have happened to only a handful of other families. Since the start of their legal odyssey, Score and Mills repeatedly made clear that they wanted to keep Shea, saying in their lawsuit that they created an “intensely strong emotional bond” starting in pregnancy. After Shea’s biological parents were identified, Score and Mills said that they would “love and will be this child’s parents forever.”

The defendants have not disputed that Shea “should be, but is not, the genetic child” of the plaintiffs, according to Schreiber’s summary in court filings.

The fertility clinic, reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Milton McNichol and their attorneys did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

The case has put a spotlight on the IVF industry in the United States, which experts say lacks oversight compared with other developed countries.

The Fertility Center of Orlando has faced legal and financial tumult and announced this spring that it would be closing. Another IVF network opened in the same location.

Score and Mills’ case is pending while genetic testing is conducted on a frozen embryo that the clinic said belongs to them. That embryo has since been moved to a different facility.

In a statement Monday provided by their attorney, the couple said they were committed to respecting the privacy of Shea’s biological parents, “with whom they have begun and intend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust.”