California Couples Unknowingly Birth Each Others' Babies

Two California couples gave birth to each others' babies after the fertility clinic gave each of them the wrong embryo.

According to Local10, the parents filed a lawsuit on Monday, November 8, after they spent months raising children that weren't theirs.

Daphna Cardinale and her husband Alexander said they had immediate suspicions when she gave birth to a baby girl in late 2019 because the child had a darker complexion than both of them.

However, Daphna said they pushed through their doubts because they fell in love with the baby and they trusted their doctors and the in vitro fertilization process.

After a DNA test, it was confirmed that doctors had accidentally implanted the other couple's embryo into Daphna and the Cardinales' embryo, made from Daphna's egg and Alexander's sperm, into the other woman.

The baby girls were born a week apart in September 2019 and both couples raised the wrong child for nearly three months.

“I was overwhelmed by feelings of fear, betrayal, anger and heartbreak,” Daphna said during a news conference to announce the lawsuit. “I was robbed of the ability to carry my own child. I never had the opportunity to grow and bond with her during pregnancy, to feel her kick.”

The couple's suit accuses the Los Angeles-based California Center for Reproductive Health (CCRH) and its owner, Dr. Eliran Mor, of medical malpractice, breach of contract, negligence, and fraud, according to Local10.

The other parents who wish to remain anonymous are planning a similar lawsuit in the coming days, according to attorney Adam Wolf who is representing all four parents.

According to Daphna, the four parents have made an effort to say in each other's lives and "forge a larger family."