Share and Follow
A couple from Florida is taking legal action against a fertility clinic after the woman unexpectedly gave birth to a baby that allegedly isn’t their biological child.
In December, Steven Mills and Tiffany Score welcomed a “beautiful, healthy female child.” However, the couple, who are both White, noticed their newborn daughter’s appearance suggested she was “racially non-Caucasian.” This led them to carry out genetic testing, which confirmed the child wasn’t biologically theirs, according to documents referenced by Fox News Digital.
Their lawsuit alleges that the Fertility Center of Orlando mistakenly implanted the wrong embryo into Score’s uterus. This incident occurred five years after the couple had preserved their embryos at the clinic.
“A significant concern for the Plaintiffs is the potential scenario where another person was implanted with one or more of their embryos and may be pregnant or has been pregnant and is now raising one or more of their biological children,” stated the lawsuit, which was filed in Orange County, Florida, on January 22.
Image showing Steven Mills and Tiffany Score with the baby girl Score delivered. (Image courtesy of Mills and Score’s family attorney, Mara Hatfield)
The lawsuit also claims that the couple has asked the clinic to no avail to help reunite the daughter Score gave birth to with her biological parents and to find out what happened to their own frozen embryos.
They also want the clinic to pay for the genetic testing of every child born whose parents had embryos implanted at the clinic in the last five years after the couple used their services.
“An intensely strong emotional bond was created on the part of Tiffany and Steven with the unborn child Tiffany carried during the nine months of her pregnancy, and despite the certain knowledge that Shea is not their genetically matched child, the emotional bond grows stronger every minute of every day that Shea remains in their care,” the lawsuit says. “They would willingly keep her in their care; however, for the sake of both Shea and her genetic parents, they recognize that Shea should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able and willing to take her.”
Doctor removing embryo samples from cryogenic storage. (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
At an emergency hearing on Wednesday, lawyers on both sides said that clinic had preliminarily agreed to do genetic testing, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
However, Francis Pierce III, a lawyer for the clinic, told the Sentinel that there are privacy issues with genetically testing other babies born to patients at the clinic.
“Patients would have to agree to be tested,” he told the newspaper. Pierce added that attorneys on both sides are working for a quick settlement.Â
A Florida couple is suing a fertility clinic weeks after the woman gave birth to a baby that isn’t biologically their child. (ASTIER/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Dr. Milton McNichol, who heads the clinic, was fined $5,000 in May 2024 after a Florida State Board of Medicine routine inspection found equipment that didn’t meet “performance standards,” and non-compliance with a risk management program, according to the newspaper.
Fox News Digital has reached out to lawyers for the clinic and McNichol for comment.