A couple from Florida has taken legal action against a fertility clinic following the birth of a baby they claim is not biologically theirs.
Steven Mills and Tiffany Score welcomed a “beautiful, healthy girl” in December. However, noticing that their daughter appeared to have features indicating she was “racially non-Caucasian,” the White couple sought genetic testing. The results showed the baby was not genetically related to them, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The couple’s lawsuit alleges that the Fertility Center of Orlando mistakenly implanted the wrong embryo into Score’s uterus. This occurred five years after their own embryos were stored at the clinic.
The legal complaint, filed on January 22 in Orange County, Florida, expresses their concern that their embryos might have been implanted into someone else, who could now be pregnant with or raising their biological child.
Photograph of Steven Mills and Tiffany Score with the newborn girl Score delivered. (Courtesy of MILLS SCORE FAMILY ATTORNEY MARA HATFIELD)
The lawsuit further contends that the couple has repeatedly asked the clinic for assistance in locating the biological parents of the child Score delivered. They also seek information about the status of their own frozen embryos, but claim their requests have gone unanswered.
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.
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)
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.
