A Chinese couple have decided to reconcile to the fact that the embryo of their baby was mistakenly mixed up by a hospital from Anhui Province during in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to media report on Tuesday.
In 2011, Chen Dong (pseudonym) and his ex-wife Wang Lei (pseudonym) had a child named Xiao Xuan through in vitro fertilization at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. However, in 2020, they were shocked to discover that the boy was not biologically related to either of them.
This news caused a stir on Chinese social media, particularly after the hospital responded by stating that they could not trace the embryo and urged the couple to be "open-minded" about the mix-up.
Chen contacted the hospital in an effort to determine the biological parents of his child, as this information would be necessary if a bone marrow transplant was ever required from a blood relative.
"The hospital's mistake totally messed up who is my child," Chen, the 50-year-old, said. In the initial trial, the hospital was found fully liable for the incident and was fined 640,000 yuan ($93,055) as compensation for the couple.
This case has sparked intense debate about how to address medical negligence in cases involving IVF babies in order to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
