A mother in Argentina discovered that the child she had given birth to was not biologically hers. The case happened in San Isidro, about 27 km from Buenos Aires. The child is her third child and was conceived after she underwent in vitro fertilization with her husband without resorting to egg or sperm donation from any third party.
According to the Argentine newspaper La Nación, the discovery came as the couple was leaving the clinic. The baby’s father found his documents contained a blood type incompatible with hers. A new blood test was done, but the result was an intolerance.
When in doubt, a family doctor recommended that a DNA test be performed. It was then that the couple learned that they were not the child’s biological parents.
The couple reported the clinic to authorities and an investigation was launched to determine if there had been any crimes of concealment of identity, fraud and assault. The Argentine federal police were also on site to obtain anamnesis and information about the fertility institute.
Upon publication, the researchers noted that the egg that produced the embryo would have been donated. Now they are looking for the biological father in a small group of patients at the clinic.
Authorities also reported that the embryo belonging to the couple turned out to be unsuitable for implantation. This would rule out the possibility of an embryo exchange and thus the birth of a biological child of the couple.
Vadim Mishanchuk, a lawyer at the clinic, told the newspaper it was not known where the error occurred in the fertilization process. “The log has been checked 100 times and nowhere could this situation have occurred,” he said.
Also, according to the publication, the judiciary concluded that there was an error in medical treatment without malice, and therefore fraudrelated crimes were not configured.
This was the first known case of this type in Argentina.