Biological parents of baby in IVF embryo mix-up have been identified, Florida couple says

Health newsBiological parents of baby in IVF embryo mix-up have been identified, Florida couple saysTiffany Score and Steven Mills sued the Fertility Center of Orlando after the birth of a baby who isn’t genetically related to either of them.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Tiffany Score and Steven Mills said they love Shea and "will be this child’s parents forever."Courtesy of family attorney via WESHShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 22, 2026, 5:02 PM EDTBy Elizabeth ChuckThe biological parents of a baby at the center of an embryo mix-up have been identified, according to attorneys for the Florida woman who gave birth to the infant. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Tiffany Score and Steven Mills sued the Fertility Center of Orlando and its head reproductive endocrinologist in January after learning that their newborn, Shea, was not genetically related to either of them. Score and Mills, who are both white, had undergone in vitro fertilization at the Longwood, Florida, clinic and decided to pursue genetic testing because their baby “displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,” their lawsuit says. This month, Mara Hatfield, an attorney representing Score and Mills, told NBC News that DNA testing revealed Shea is 100% South Asian. Hatfield added that the clinic said it had identified one South Asian couple from 16 sets of potential parents whose egg retrieval and embryo transfer dates were around the same time as Score’s.In court documents, the defendants have not disputed that Score and Mills’ baby “should be, but is not, the genetic child” of the plaintiffs, and they said they were cooperating with requests to help identify the girl’s biological parents.Score and Mills said this week that a match confirmed the baby’s genetic parents. They said the couple’s identity would remain confidential.“This ends one chapter in our heartbreaking journey, but i...