A U.S. couple is suing a fertility clinic where they allege employees botched a fertilization procedure, leading to the mother giving birth to other people鈥檚 children.
The lawsuit, filed in the last week, stated the Asian couple was 鈥渟hocked鈥� in March at the births of two babies who didn鈥檛 appear to be of Asian descent, to .
The couple -- who are only identified as A.P. and Y.Z. to minimize 鈥渆mbarrassment and humiliation鈥� 鈥� promptly gave up custody of the twins after DNA tests confirmed they weren鈥檛 related to the couple, the lawsuit states.
According to the suit, the twins, who themselves weren鈥檛 related to each other, were then each given to their biological parents.
CTVNews.ca has contacted the clinic for comment.
On the of the CHA Fertility Clinic in Los Angeles, it claimed it had "fulfilled the dreams of tens of thousands of aspiring parents" in more than 22 countries. But the couple said the clinic shattered their dreams.
Before the alleged mix-up, the couple said they鈥檇 spent years trying to get pregnant and spent close to $131,000 on in-vitro fertilization (or IVF), travel, medication and laboratory fees.
IVF is a medical procedure involving fertilizing a woman鈥檚 egg outside of her body before it鈥檚 implanted back into her womb to develop.
LAWSUIT: CLINIC CO-OWNERS RESPONSIBLE FOR 鈥楿NIMAGINABLE MISHAP鈥�
Dr. Joshua Berger and Simon Hong, identified in the lawsuit as clinic co-owners, are being sued for medical malpractice, fraudulent concealment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit alleged the men are responsible for the "unimaginable mishap." According to the lawsuit, the couple doesn鈥檛 know what happened to their own embryos and believe they 鈥渨ere never thawed and/or lost or destroyed by defendants鈥�.
Last September, the couple felt 鈥溾�� when they were told they鈥檇 be expecting twin girls. During the pregnancy, they were also told the babies were 鈥渇ormed using both of their genetic material.鈥�
But one of the first signs of an issue came when sonograms showed the mother was actually carrying twin boys, the lawsuit states. However, Berger and Hong allegedly told the couple not to worry because 鈥渋t was not a definitive test.鈥�
Lawyers for the couple told that the goal in "filing this lawsuit is to obtain compensation for our clients' losses, as well as to ensure that this tragedy never happens again.鈥�
Jake Anderson, co-founder of Fertility IQ -- which compiles information on fertilization for parents and doctors -- said cases such as this one call into question the rigourousness of certain IVF facilities.
鈥淗ave we become reckless and too careless with people's most important genetic material and their future happiness?" he told CBS News, while also acknowledging that human error is not uncommon.
鈥淚t's this agonizing process to grow embryos. And it involves almost over 200 different steps and when you assume this happens to thousands of patients every year within that laboratory, all of a sudden you've got a lot of moving parts," Anderson said.
