Florida couple to raise child from IVF embryo mix-up after custody deal

A Florida couple who welcomed a child genetically unrelated to them after an alleged embryo mix-up at a fertility clinic they subsequently sued will raise the child as their own after reaching an agreement with the child’s biological parents, according to the couple.

Tiffany Score and Steven Mills welcomed a daughter, Shea, in December of last year. Later, genetic testing revealed that the baby was related to another set of parents, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this year against the now-defunct fertility clinic IVF Life, Inc., which operated as Fertility Center of Orlando before shuttering last month.

Score and Mills said they have come to a “mutually devised custody agreement” with Shea’s biological parents, and plan to develop “a relationship of friendship and trust” together, according to ABC News.

The pair will continue to raise Shea as their own and will remain her custodial parents, according to the custody agreement filed on June 12, the outlet reported.

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Jack Scarola, an attorney for the couple, said Score and Mills appreciate how news of their mix-up helped connect them with Shea’s biological parents.

“Tiffany and Steve recognize the public interest in the details of their IVF experience, and they appreciate the role the news media has played in bringing them and Shea to the point where Shea’s genetic parents were able to be identified and fears about Shea’s future have been settled,” Scarola said in a statement to ABC News.

“Tiffany and Steve are committed to respect[ing] the privacy concerns of Shea’s genetic parents with whom they have begun and intend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust. They are also committed to protecting Shea from harmful intrusion on her privacy,” Scarola added.

In their lawsuit against IVF Life, Inc. and Dr. Milton McNichol, who led the fertility clinic before its closure, Score and Mills said they solicited the services of the clinic to assist them in the IVF process and contracted with the clinic for “cryogenic storage of three viable embryos,” according to ABC News.

The couple claimed that the clinic then implanted an embryo in Score’s uterus in March of last year that “was not one of the embryos produced by” her and her partner.

When their daughter was born in December, Score and Mills — who are both White — said their daughter “displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child.” They then used genetic testing and confirmed the baby was not biologically related to them.

They called on the clinic to bring the lawsuit to the attention of “all of its patients who had embryos in storage” to determine whether they may have received an embryo belonging to Score and Mills.

Score and Mills also demanded that the clinic cover the cost of “genetic testing for all patients and the children of all patients whose birth resulted from embryo implantation through [the clinic’s] services during the past five years,” which is the time span when the clinic had their embryos.

The pair also urged the clinic to disclose any discrepancies in parentage.

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In last week’s custody filing, Score and Mills said they learned about the “embryo history of Plaintiffs and other patients” that “revealed laboratory-clinic errors that would substantiate claims for damages against the present defendants and others without the need to satisfy medical malpractice lawsuit prerequisites.”

They said they decided to store one of their embryos at a different facility.

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IVF Life, Inc. previously said it was “actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them.”

“Multiple entities are involved in this process, and all parties are working diligently to help identify when and where the error may have occurred,” the clinic said in January. “Our priority remains transparency and the well-being of the patient and child involved. We will continue to assist in any way that we can, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.”