An Asian couple from Queens, New York couple is suing a Los Angeles fertility clinic after they allegedly gave birth to someone else’s babies.
According to legal documents filed in Brooklyn federal court, the couple married in 2012.
After being unable to conceive, they turned to the CHA Fertility Center in Los Angeles.
According to the New York Post, the clinic bills itself as a ‘mecca of reproductive medicine’ which has ‘fulfilled the dreams of tens of thousands of aspiring parents from Southern California and beyond in over 22 countries.’
A Queens, New York couple is reportedly suing CHA Fertility Center in Los Angeles after giving birth to someone else’s babies
In January 2018, the couple, who are identified in court papers as Y.Z. and A.P., flew out to Southern California to meet with the clinic’s co-owners – Dr. Joshua Berger and Simon Hong.
After months of treatments that included medicine, vitamins, and an assortment of tests, the couple was able to yield eight embryos.
The expenses incurred by the couple, which included travel, medical fees, specialist fees, and lab tests, reached about $100,000, according to the lawsuit.
Simon Hong, the clinic co-owner, is named in the lawsuit
In July 2018, attempts to implant an embryo in A.P. failed, the lawsuit stated.
In August, the couple decided to try again.
The clinic thawed two of the couple’s female embryos for another attempt.
It works, as A.P. managed to get pregnant in September.
According to court papers, the couple was ‘ecstatic’ after being told that ‘after years of trying to conceive, they had success and were pregnant with twins.’
But despite the fact that they were told the clinic had used female embryos, the couple became ‘confused’ when sonograms showed that A.P. was carrying twin boys.
Berger and Hong tried to reassure the couple, saying that sonograms were ‘not a definitive test.’
According to the lawsuit, the clinic co-owners ‘assured [A.P. and Y.Z.] that they were having girls and that nothing was wrong.’
A.P. gave birth to the twins via cesarean section in a New York hospital on March 30 of this year.
Dr. Joshua Berger, the co-owner of the clinic, is pictured above
The couple was shocked to discover that not only was A.P. carrying boys, but that neither of the babies were Asian, according to court papers.
Hong and other workers from the clinic flew to New York to conduct genetic tests which confirmed that the babies were not related to the parents, it has been alleged.
‘The testing also confirmed that the two male babies were not genetically related to each other,’ the lawsuit states.
After the birth, Y.Z. and A.P. were forced to give up custody of both babies to their biological parents.
The lawsuit says that the couple were victims of an ‘unimaginable mishap’ – so much so that they ‘could not find the courage and the way to tell others about their devastating loss.’
The ordeal has left A.P. and Y.Z. with ‘permanent emotional injuries from which they will not recover,’ according to the lawsuit.
The couple said they do not know what happened to the two female embryos that were supposed to have been implanted in A.P.’s uterus.
They ‘may never know what happened to their embryos, as well as whether the currently cryopreserved embryos are genetically matched to them,’ court papers state.
They are seeking unspecified damages.
The clinic is not commenting on the matter.