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A Florida couple is suing a fertility clinic weeks after the woman gave birth to a baby that allegedly isn’t biologically their child.
Steven Mills and Tiffany Score gave birth to a “beautiful, healthy female child” in December, but when the couple, who are both White, realized their new daughter appeared to be “racially non-Caucasian,” they ordered genetic testing that proved she wasn’t theirs, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
The lawsuit claims the Fertility Center of Orlando somehow implanted the wrong embryo in Score’s uterus five years after the couple had their embryos frozen at the clinic.
“Of equal concern to the Plaintiffs is the obvious possibility that someone else was implanted with one or more of their embryos and is pregnant with or has been pregnant with and is presently parenting one or more of their children,” the lawsuit, filed in Orange County, Florida on Jan. 22, added.
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Steven Mills and Tiffany Score holding the baby girl Score gave birth to. (MILLS SCORE 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.
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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.
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)
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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.