Couple claims clinic switched their embryos

BRIDGEPORT — A British couple claim a Trumbull fertility clinic inseminated the wrong embryo-sperm combination into the wife, resulting in the birth of a child that is not genetically related to them.

The couple, who have asked that their name not be used to protect their child, claim in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court here that the negligent actions of CT Fertility P.C. and Dr. Melvin Thorton II have left them devastated because they now have a baby who not only is not genetically related to them but appears to be of a different race.

The couple’s lawyer, Stephanie Bernstein, declined comment, citing the sensitive nature of the case.

Neither Thorton nor the lawyers for the fertility clinic returned calls or emails for comment.

The clinic recently announced that it has closed.

In January 2015, the couple, who now live in London, contracted with CT Fertility P.C. for in vitro fertilization using the husband’s sperm and embryos from a known donor that were stored at the Trumbull clinic, according to the lawsuit. That IVF treatment resulted in the birth of the couple’s first child in April 2016.

The lawsuit states that in December 2017, the couple underwent a second IVF treatment at CT Fertility with the defendants representing they were using the embryo from the known donor that was in storage at the clinic and the husband’s sperm. That treatment resulted in the birth on

Aug. 22, 2018, of the couple’s second child.

“Their second child appeared to have a much darker skin pigmentation then either the father, the genetic mother or their first child, which was extremely unexpected and perplexing as the children were supposed to have the same genetic makeup,” the suit states.

The couple had an outside lab do a DNA profile on their children, which the suit states found that the two children are not related.

“While the plaintiff’s second son is loved in every aspect, the plaintiffs live in constant, nagging, debilitating fear that the person whose genetic material was used will realize, as they did, that the defendants negligently mixed up their genetic material,” the suit states.

The suit said that the couple is also “plagued with fear” over the fact that their genetic material may have been transferred to someone else.