Unintended Gestational Carrier: Krystena Murray’s IVF Journey Turns Traumatic
The Dream and the Deception
Krystena Murray, a 38-year-old photographer from Savannah, Georgia, yearned for a child. In pursuit of her dream, she embarked on an IVF journey through Coastal Fertility Specialists, an organization operating IVF clinics in South Carolina and Georgia. In December 2023, Murray, a Caucasian woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, gave birth to a baby boy with African American features.
A Heartbreaking Discovery
Murray immediately suspected something was amiss. "I knew something was very wrong," she said at a press conference on February 18th. "This was supposed to be the happiest time of my life, and it was, honestly. But it was also the most terrifying," adding that she was immediately horrified by the prospect of the baby being taken away.
Biological Confusion and the Aftermath
DNA tests confirmed that Murray was not the biological mother of the baby. However, this biological disconnect did not diminish her attachment to the child. She loved and cared for him as if he were biologically hers.
Legal Battle and Heartbreak
Knowing that she had to inform the clinic of the mistake, Murray’s attorney contacted Coastal Fertility Specialists in February 2024. The clinic identified and contacted the biological parents of the baby, who confirmed his paternity through DNA testing. They then filed a lawsuit to gain custody of the child.
With a heavy heart, Murray voluntarily surrendered the baby to his biological parents in court, after being advised by her attorney that she would likely lose a custody battle. "I walked in as a mother with a child who loved me and who was mine and was attached to me, and I walked out with an empty stroller, and they walked out with my son," Murray told NBC News. "I raised him, I loved him. I didn’t see him any different because he wasn’t mine, my own embryo," she added.
Unanswered Questions and Legal Action
Murray has filed a lawsuit in a Georgia state court. The complaint alleges that she "unknowingly and unwillingly carried a pregnancy for a child that was not biologically hers," and only learned of this fact after giving birth. "She was involuntarily, unwittingly, unknowingly made a gestational carrier for another couple against her will," the lawsuit states. The trauma is compounded by the fact that she has been unable to get answers about the status of her own embryos, unsure if they were transferred to another couple or are still in storage at the fertility clinic.
A Rare but Devastating Error
Such errors in IVF treatments are considered extremely rare, but Murray’s case is not an isolated incident. In 2019, a New York couple sued a California fertility clinic, alleging that they had implanted embryos belonging to two other couples, a discovery made after the mother gave birth to twins. In 2021, two couples sued another California clinic after their embryos were swapped, resulting in months of raising each other’s biological child before the mix-up was discovered.
Coastal Fertility Specialists Responds
Coastal Fertility Specialists and Dr. Jeffrey Gray, the laboratory director of embryology, issued a statement expressing "deep regret over the distress caused by an unprecedented error" and assured that it was "an isolated event that has not affected any other patients."
