The legal action of the biological parents whose embryos were implanted by mistake in another woman was rejected. The couple will not get custody of the children.
The Roman couple who came to the hospital for in vitro fertilization whose embryos were implanted in the wrong woman, saw their application for legal action rejected by the Italian court.
No recourse possible
The biological parents claimed custody of the twins, born on August 3 and recognized as the legitimate children of the surrogate mother and the husband. Judge Silvia Albano chose to leave custody of the twins to the twins and rejected the biological parents’ appeal. “The case is not subject to appeal to the Constitutional Court because according to Italian order, the mother’s children are those of the mother who brings them into the world,” she told the AFP Friday August 8. The surrogate also spoke: “We are aware of their pain, and we are in pain, having said that we had offered to meet them, but they never responded. The couple will only be entitled to financial compensation, the amount of which has not been disclosed.
Almost identical names
In December, the couple went to the Sandro Pertini hospital (Rome) to perform in vitro fertilization. But some time later, surprise! A genetic test reveals that the parents and the embryos are not compatible. When the couple found out, the surrogate was already in her fourth month of pregnancy. No question, therefore, of performing an abortion (prohibited beyond six weeks of pregnancy).
In April, the Italian Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin announced that she had opened an inspection within the hospital, to understand the reasons for such an error. Apparently, the hospital would have swapped the names of the two couples, identical to two letters near.
This is not the first time that an embryo exchange case has taken place in a hospital. Similar stories had taken place in Britain and Italy, but the error was discovered within an hour of insemination.
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