No lawsuits or abortions

An Ohio woman
who was pregnant with the child of another couple after a mix-up at
an IVF clinic has handed the baby over to his biological parents.
Carolyn Savage and her husband already had two older children and an
18-month-old IVF daughter, but they wanted to use the last of their
embryos for another child. A clinic in Toledo mistakenly transferred
an embryo belonging to Paul and Shannon Morell of Michigan.

Normally such
cases end in lawsuits, recriminations and even abortions. However, Ms
Savage agreed to hand the child over to his parents.

It was a
difficult decision. After she discovered the truth, she said, "I
don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in my life. It was such a
nightmare and, in a way, I felt violated." However, she and her
husband felt that the right thing to do was to hand the baby over.
"This was someone else’s child,” she said the day before
giving birth. “We didn’t know who it was, we didn’t know if they
didn’t have children or if this was their last chance for a child. We
knew if our child was out there, we’d go to the ends of the earth to
get our child back.”

The Savages
still want a fourth child and say that they may resort to using a
surrogate mother.

For some
reason, the identity of the clinic has not been revealed. Its lawyer
told the media: "This has never happened to this medical
practice before, and they are working day and night so that it will
never happen again." ~ London
Telegraph, Sept 26

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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