22.9.09 Pregnant mother forced to give up IVF baby after doctors gave her wrong embryo

By David Gardner
Last updated at 1:34 PM on 22nd September 2009

A pregnant mother will have to give birth to another couple's baby after a blunder by an IVF clinic.
Carolyn Savage had the wrong embryos implanted into her and will have to give the boy up to his biological parents as soon as he is born.
Yesterday Mrs Savage, 40, who was expecting her fourth child with husband Sean, said: 'The hardest part is going to be the delivery. I remember communicating with the [unnamed] mother of this child as to what I was envisioning and hoping for.

'I said, "We want a moment to say hello, and goodbye".
'In the beginning we were really scared of that moment and it is still scary. We are trying to mentally frame it in a positive way and look at it as a gift for this family that eight months ago we didn't know.
'I think that is the only way we'll get through it.'
Mrs Savage, from Ohio in the U.S., is 35 weeks pregnant and expecting in a fortnight. The couple already have two sons aged 15 and 12 and a daughter, born with the help of IVF, who is 18 months.

Mrs Savage learned she was pregnant with a boy in February after deciding to try again with the last of her frozen embryos.
They learned about the mix-up after Mr Savage received a phone call at work and returned home to tell his wife.
She said: 'I was upstairs in my bedroom and he came to the door and said "I have some really bad news".

The couple are now hoping to give their remaining embryos to another carrier
'You're pregnant,' he told her. 'But they transferred the wrong embryo.'
Mrs Savage said she just kept repeating: 'You're joking.'

But when she looked at her husband 'he was as white as a sheet'.
The couple decided not to have an abortion because of their religious beliefs, and have met the other couple and arranged a handover.
Mrs Savage added: 'We will wonder about this child every day for the rest of our lives.
'We have hopes for him, but they are his parents and we'll defer to their judgment on when and if they ever tell him what happened and any contact that's afforded us.
'We just want to know he's healthy and happy.'
Lawyers for the Savages are working to ensure that the fertility clinic that made the error 'will accept full responsibility for the consequences of their misconduct'.

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