Reply to IVF embryo error, custody settlement

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.
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Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo. 
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This is from Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936.
Worldwide they found 25 incidents of embryo mix ups affecting 64 people.

3.3.1. Consequences of frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups
Frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups are the most prevalent type of IVF related incident following catastrophic large-scale storage, tank, and alarm failures (Figure 2). The first widely publicized U.S. case that set a precedent for the following cases on who would get the child(ren)—genetic or birth parents—was Perry-Rogers v. Fasano (2000). In this case, a White couple, Richard and Donna Fasano, had twin sons via ART/IVF treatment, one of whom was an African American child. The newborn boy’s genetic parents, Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers sued the Fasanos for the custody of their biological son and won. At 8 months, their son was returned to them.[b] All the following U.S. cases of embryo mix-ups, resulting in a wrong parent carrying the child(ren) who was not biologically related to them, to term, were settled in favor of genetic parents,[/b] including Manukyan v. CHA Fertility (2019). In this particularly devastating case, an Asian couple who went to California to seek fertility treatments were expecting to have twin daughters, but instead, the mother gave birth to twin boys, who were not Asian and were not related to each other. The two other parental couples sued and successfully won the custody of their biological children, leaving the birth couple who wanted to raise the children devastated. What happened to the couple’s own two female embryos were never determined, and their case, A.P. et al v. CHA Health Systems, Inc. et al., moved from New York State to California for further litigation (2023).[/quote]

This article is extremely interesting and goes to show how important culture norms are in determining what people think is "obviously right."

"In the Czech Republic, however, the law states the mother of the child(ren) is the woman who gives birth to the child(ren). Regardless of genetic maternity, the birth mother has legal rights to keep the child(ren). In case of embryo mix-ups involving international patients, who visit the Czech Republic for fertility treatments, the custody lawsuits might be complicated by the differences between the Czech law and the laws of their countries, with the Czech law taking precedent in Czech courts, regardless of the patients’ and child(ren)’ nationality."

From my research, it looks like at least two other countries show a strong preference for the birth parents, while the U.S. is unique in obviously favoring the genetic parents. So in at least the Czech Republic, Australia, and Israel, even in IVF mix ups, the birth parent nearly always wins. The U.S. and Singapore tend to go with the genetic parent.

https://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2026/01/09/jme-2025-111285[/quote]

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