IVF clinic Queensland Fertility Group silenced white couple who gave birth to biracial baby in sperm mix-up

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Brisbane couple chose a sperm donor whose description matched the man's Caucasian features, including fair hair and blue eyes. The couple first learned something had gone wrong with their IVF treatment when the mixed-race baby was born in 2014. As part of the settlement, the couple was paid to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and the company did not report the mix-up to the share market.

Transcript

00:00This was a couple here in Brisbane who were undergoing IVF treatment at the Queensland

00:07Fertility Group. Now that clinic is part of Australia's biggest fertility company Virtus

00:13Health. Now they went to this clinic and they chose a sperm donor who matched the features

00:19of the husband. He was Caucasian with fair hair and blue eyes. So they wanted a donor

00:24who looked as close to that as possible. QFG then created an embryo using donor sperm

00:33from a US sperm bank. And it was then not until the birth of that baby that the couple realised

00:40something had gone wrong with their treatment. And their family friend, Jo Bastian, has spoken

00:47with me in regards to what happened next.

00:50They went to the clinic and the clinic dismissed them. In fact, they went three times and the

00:57clinic dismissed them each time. And the mother was quite distraught about this because she

01:00felt that the clinic didn't care. There was no follow up from the clinic. They didn't follow

01:07up to see if she was okay and the baby. So yeah, she felt very much isolated, I think is

01:16probably the word.

01:18So Grace, what do you know about Queensland Fertility Group and what indeed are they saying

01:22about this incident?

01:23Well, as I mentioned, Queensland Fertility Group is part of Australia's biggest fertility

01:28company, Virtus Health, and it's a major player here in Queensland. QFG told us that they're

01:35aware of this matter and empathise with the family. They told us that all remaining donor sperm

01:42from this donor was destroyed. But they told us that they don't believe the former board and

01:47management engaged in a cover-up, even though the parents were asked to sign a strict non-disclosure

01:55agreement. They are not able to speak to anyone about this error. And the incident was also never

02:01disclosed to the share market, even though Virtus Health was publicly listed at the time.

02:06So Grace, hasn't it been an industry standard since around 2012 for IVF clinics to use an

02:12identity check known as double witnessing? Tell me about this sample. Was it drawn from this US

02:18sperm bank without that check?

02:21Yes, well, it seems that the protocols in the US are quite different to here in Australia,

02:26particularly in regards to sperm banks. But what's clear is that Queensland Fertility Group

02:31and Virtus Health, for that matter, had never done their due diligence in importing sperm from overseas

02:37and then exposing Australian patients to the risk of a mix-up because a crucial check known as double

02:44witnessing was not taking place at this US sperm bank. And so that is really where the issue came up.

02:53Two men had gone into the sperm bank to donate on the same day. One, a Caucasian man,

02:59and the other, an African-American man. And the samples were mixed up at that point of the collection.

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