According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a woman in Brisbane, Brisbane, Australia gave birth to another couple’s baby due to IVF mix-up at Monash IVF. The error discovered in February 2025 occurred when the wrong fetus was transplanted during treatment at the clinic. Parents of birth paid attention to discrepancies when trying to move the remaining embryos to another clinic.
As ABC News, Legal experts suggest that under the current Australian law, the birth mother and her partner are recognized as legal parents, possibly leaving the biological parents without the rights of custody. The case has inspired the call for the increased monitoring of the IVF industry and highlights the need for better safety measures in aided reproductive technologies.
Family creation lawyer Sarah Jefford said, “There are estimates in Australia about the legal parent of the child’s parents to have a legal parent.” ABC News.
“But if the genetic parents want to come forward and start discussing about it, then we have to wait and see.”
‘Man makes mistakes.’
Professor Gab Kovax, an IVF Pioneer and former director of Monash IVF, said it was a “terrible, tragic situation all round”, which was unlikely to test first in Australia.
“While it is a life-changing for the joints involved, the next person who will be the most shattered is the scientist responsible for this mistake,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“I don’t know what the legal status in Australia will decide; I don’t think it has been tested earlier.”
“I don’t think there is much that can be done; we just have to accept that man makes mistakes.”