White woman sues sperm bank after she gets wrong color baby

[Kellydelly]

I am sure the clinic that the woman was inseminated at had her sign/initial that she was receiving the correct specimen. I think she may have some culpability in accepting the wrong specimen. I would be very surprised if she wasn't asked to verify before the insemination was done. They don't just walk into the room and shoot you up with the sperm and not double check. It doesn't work that way . Or did they have the sperm delivered to their house and they did it themselves ? There's a lot of details missing.

 

[abdmom]

If mom had just left it at a contractual/medical error--I agree with you.

But her racist comments do not endear me to her. To me--she is not loving her child unconditionally in that regard and if makes me wonder if she has some racism towards her daughter she may not be aware of.

For example--she seriously cannot find any salon anywhere that will cut her child's hair without going to the "special" parts of town?

If you came on here contesting a transaction that was a contractual error, but then inserted racism, your legitimate claim would be overshadowed by the racism.

Some how, I don't believe she would be suing if the error gave her a white baby.

Are you the parent of a mixed race child? I am. The mother's comments are spot on. She did not make any racist comments. She spoke of the realities of having a mixed race child. There is plenty of racism directed towards children who are of mixed race. A lot of it is not overt. She did not create the racism. She did not choose to have a mixed race child, but she now has to deal with having a mixed race child.

 

[msjprincess]

Not familiar with their particular place, but from what I understand it's usually supposed to be pretty darned "guaranteed" all the way down to eye color, educational background, profession, etc. They don't just grab random samples from the shelf (unless you request that).

I agree that of all the complaints, the hair one is just plain dumb, but I would be incredibly upset.

Exactly. And is this particular case it was supposed to be the same donor that fathered her other child.

So yes I would pretty upset and it has nothing to do with race

 

[Allison]

I am sure the clinic that the woman was inseminated at had her sign/initial that she was receiving the correct specimen. I think she may have some culpability in accepting the wrong specimen. I would be very surprised if she wasn't asked to verify before the insemination was done. They don't just walk into the room and shoot you up with the sperm and not double check. It doesn't work that way . Or did they have the sperm delivered to their house and they did it themselves ? There's a lot of details missing.

Did you read the second article which says there were no redundancies in place to catch an error like this so I don't think you can be sure about anything.

 

[msjprincess]

I am sure the clinic that the woman was inseminated at had her sign/initial that she was receiving the correct specimen. I think she may have some culpability in accepting the wrong specimen. I would be very surprised if she wasn't asked to verify before the insemination was done. They don't just walk into the room and shoot you up with the sperm and not double check. It doesn't work that way . Or did they have the sperm delivered to their house and they did it themselves ? There's a lot of details missing.

How on earth would she know it was the wrong specimen?

 

[Miskey]

How on earth would she know it was the wrong specimen?

Exactly what I would like to know!!! I thought all sperm looked the same

 

[disykat]

Come on. I'm sure they love the child and will keep it, but if you go in for a nose job and come out with a bigger chest instead, is it enough to say "oh well, at least you woke up healthy!". They paid for a medical procedure. What they requested isn't what they received.

I agree. Race is such a sensitive issue, apparently it's not politically correct to notice your child came out a different color.

 

[Kellydelly]

How on earth would she know it was the wrong specimen?

They label the sperm vials . That is how you would know you have the wrong number specimen. They should have verified the number. The bank may have sent the wrong order, but it surely had the correct label on it.

 

[sonnyjane]

They label the sperm vials . That is how you would know you have the wrong number specimen. They should have verified the number. The bank may have sent the wrong order, but it surely had the correct label on it.

It surely had the right label?? Again I don't have all the details for this case, but I'm taken aback by your confidence in the system and your placing the onus on the couple for not verifying the sample. The bank could just as easily mislabel the vial - the article says that the records were all hand-written (not electronic). Who knows what was even labeled on the samples they received. And who is to say the person grabbing the samples from donor 330 is the same person that labeled the vials? The vials may have been labeled 380. Again I don't know the exact details pertaining to that aspect but I strongly believe human error on the part of the clinic is the real culprit here.

 

[bcla]

What guarantee? They made a specific choice of a donor. That needs to be a guarantee.

However, they're pretty much suing for consequential damages.

 

[allison443]

They label the sperm vials . That is how you would know you have the wrong number specimen. They should have verified the number. The bank may have sent the wrong order, but it surely had the correct label on it.

How do you know "it surely had the correct label on it"?

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Sooo, I'm guessing they're past the return policy deadline?

 

[wilkeliza]

Seems like some people didn't read the article or didn't comprehend.

The lady was pregnant with her daughter almost 2 years ago. When she was about 5 months pregnant the couple called the clinic and asked for more sperm for the donor so that they could potentially have full biological siblings for their daughter later on. At that time the clinic informed them they used sperm donor 330 instead of 380. The couple was heart broken over this but decided they loved the baby girl and wanted to continue with the pregnancy.

Now the little girl is 2 (no other siblings yet) and as she is getting older there have been some difficulties for them. Their therapist has even told them they should probably move to a more tolerant town so they can raise their 2 year old in a better environment as they currently live in a most white town that sounds very racist. At no point did they want to give her up for adoption. They are trying to make the clinic pay for the mistake and hopefully cut the costs of having to move and therapy.

I guarantee you it is the lawyers who told them to talk up all the other "difficulties" they are having because that will make their claim go up.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Anyone else find it odd that lesbians would chose to live in a racist community? If the town is a hot bed for racist, I'm sure there are plenty of homophobes there as well.

s

 

[ericstac]

daughter should sue the clinic for giving half her genes to lesbian parents...

 

[wilkeliza]

Anyone else find it odd that lesbians would chose to live in a racist community? If the town is a hot bed for racist, I'm sure there are plenty of homophobes there as well. s

I think they moved to be closer to their family since they did live somewhere else. The mom admits even they face discrimination and would know how to handle it if it was an LGBT child but she has no clue how to hand racism which they say their 2 year old has already been victim to.

This case is so complex. They have to have a reason for getting the damages and not just breach of contract. The clinic already gave them their money back so if they believed they deserved more than that they have to claim emotional damages.

When kids are unlocked these types of cases get tricky because the parents usually love their kids but still need to prove some sort of damage so they chose the race card.

 

[Happy Snowman]

I understanding suing for the medical error--what I don't understand is why they waited so long!!

As for the hair issue--I'm white, I have really hard hair to style--is there someone I can sue

 

[aprilgail2]

\
The woman is white and wanted a white donor and she didn't get it, give you a break why? I think the woman is well within her rights, she is white and so is her partner and they wanted a white child there is nothing wrong about that.

.

Exactly. THIs was a huge mistake. There is no give me a break about it. This place screwed up.

They label the sperm vials . That is how you would know you have the wrong number specimen. They should have verified the number. The bank may have sent the wrong order, but it surely had the correct label on it.

As someone who has been through this- NO I NEVER saw the vial, the Dr gets that in once you order it, when I saw it it was just a filled syringe waiting in the room for me! And don't think the wrong stuff thought did not occur to me throughout my pregnancy too.

 

[sam_gordon]

I understanding suing for the medical error--what I don't understand is why they waited so long!!

I wonder if they thought "hey, how bad can it be? We're lesbian and getting by just fine." Then, after two years, they realized the difficulties were more than they anticipated.

Personally, while I think some of their complaints are "silly" (specifically the hair one), IMO, they do have a case against the clinic. On the other hand, if they knew 5 months into the pregnancy, what steps were taken then? Obviously they couldn't "return" the sample, but did the clinic at least offer the procedure for free or at a discount, or something?

 

[msjprincess]

They label the sperm vials . That is how you would know you have the wrong number specimen. They should have verified the number. The bank may have sent the wrong order, but it surely had the correct label on it.

Sorry, but I'm not as confident about that as you are.