Couple sue over ‘living hell’ mix-up

A CALIFORNIA couple have filed a lawsuit over what has been described as one of the worst IVF mix-ups, that led to another woman giving birth to their baby boy.

Anni and Ashot Manukyan, of the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, said their life was upended after their embryos as well as those of two other couples were mishandled by CHA Fertility Center.

As a result, they said a complete stranger in New York gave birth to their child in March after two embryos -- theirs and one belonging to another unidentified couple -- were mistakenly implanted into the woman’s uterus.

The New York woman, who is of Korean-American descent, was expecting to give birth to twin girls but wound up with two boys.

The Manukyans told reporters on Wednesday that they were unaware they had a son until the clinic, located in the Los Angeles area, contacted them out of the blue to obtain their DNA so that it could determine whether the child born to the New York couple was theirs.

Adding insult to injury, Anni later learned that she had been implanted with an embryo -- which failed to result in a pregnancy -- belonging to another couple who were also clients of the fertility clinic.

The Manukyans said that following a protracted legal battle they finally gained custody of their son in May, when he was six weeks old.

- ‘Worst fertility center tragedies’ -

“CHA put three families through a living hell, and our lives will never be the same,”

Ashot Manukyan told reporters. “We fought to get our boy back, and now we will fight to make sure this never happens again.”

His wife appeared emotional at the press conference, saying the ordeal has been traumatic.

“Who wants to meet their child in the lobby of a hotel?” Anni Manukyan said. “It was just heartbreaking. It was terrible.”

Adam Wolf, an attorney representing the couple, told AFP that the mixup was “one of the worst fertility center tragedies I have ever seen.”

“My firm represents hundreds of people who have been the victims of fertility center misconduct and yet I have never seen anything like this,” he said. “Anni and Ashot have been devastated that they didn’t get to bring their child into the world, hold their son in the first moments of his life.