April 15, 2025 • 18 mins
The story of an IVF mixup that led to a woman giving birth to a stranger’s baby has made global headlines this month. The Brisbane fertility clinic at its centre has launched an investigation, blaming the bungle on “human error”. In today’s deep dive, we’ll explore what happened, the legal questions raised by this story, and what it could mean for the future of Australia's assisted fertility industry.
Listen: Can Australia keep up with the booming IVF industry?
Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Billi FitzSimons
Producer: Orla Maher
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,
the sixteenth of April. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy Fitzimon's.
The story of an IVF mix up that led to
a woman giving birth to a stranger's baby has made
global headlines this month. The shocking incident might sound like
something out of a movie, or certainly something from another country,
(00:35):
but it has unfolded right here in Australia. The Queensland
Fertility Clinic at its center monash IVF in Brisbane, has
launched an investigation, but ultimately has blamed the mix up
on human error. In today's deep dive, we are going
to explore the legal questions raised by this mistake and
the ramifications it could have for the fertility industry.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Now, this story has captured international attention and it's easy
to understand why I have never heard of anything like
this happening yet before. Before we explain the fallout and
what it means for the families and also the clinic involved,
do you want to just take us through and what
exactly happened here?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So last week this shocking story broke where we learned
that a Brisbane fertility clinic is investigating after it found
out that a woman gave birth to a baby that
wasn't biologically hers. So that woman was a patient of
this clinic, Monash IVF, undergoing treatment there for in vitro fertilization,
(01:38):
and during that process she was implanted with the wrong embryo,
a fertilized egg that belonged to another couple also doing
IVF through Monash in Brisbane at that clinic. Now, in
terms of IVF in Australia where things are at, we're
talking about the most commonly used form of assisted reproductive
(01:59):
technology in the country. To give you a sense of
how popular it is, there are around nineteen thousand babies
born through IVF in Australia every year, and as a country,
we really are considered one of the world leaders in
this space. We're considered to be one of the safest
places in the world to have a baby through IVF.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I think that's part of what makes this so shocking,
is just how common IVF is in Australia. Yeah, and
I think the question that everyone has, I know I have,
is how did this possibly happen. And at what point
did they realize that this woman had been implanted with
the wrong embryo.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yes, so it was this result of an incorrect transfer
of an embryo. Now, if you're going through IVF for
couples doing IVF, the process might involve egg dodonation and
sperm donation and then fertilizing an embryo externally outside of
the body. Through IVF, that embryo gets transplanted into the
(02:56):
womb and hopefully a person falls pregnant through that process. Yes,
the clinic said that in February it learned that one
of its patients had been implanted with the wrong embryo,
with an embryo that was not her own. And I
think everyone really wants this to be more controversial or
a more satisfying kind of reason for why or how
(03:18):
this happened, but they've put it down to human error. Basically,
that's all we know about why this happened. And in
terms of how they found out, the woman involved wanted
to transfer her remaining embryos to another IVF provider, so
she had an embryo implanted. She had a pregnancy that
went to full term, she gave birth to a baby.
(03:39):
And then this couple said to Monash IVF, hey, can
you please send out embryos somewhere else?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And when Monash.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
IVF looked at those embryos, there were an unexpected number,
so they found out that there were extra embryos in
storage of those birth parents. That then led to an
internal investigation that confirmed that an embryo from a different
cup had been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents,
resulting in the birth of the child. Monash says that
(04:07):
it is truly sorry and it's now conducting a full
review of its processes.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
My goodness, you can't even imagine how it must have felt.
A when they discovered that that mistake had been made. Yeah,
but then B when the family was told that the
wrong embryo had been implanted in.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Them, Oh, devastating.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And after having gone through a full pregnancy and birth process.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Couples who use.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
IVF, you know, typically it's not easy for them to conceive,
so to jump through so many hurdles and get to
that point, I'm sure was completely earth shattering.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And just to be clear, so we know that they
discovered this in February, and at that point the woman
had already given birth and they were raising this baby.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yes, So we don't have any information on the age
of the baby or the names of the couples and
families involved.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Those details have been kept private.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We really don't know how old this child is, but
the clinic have referred to this embryo and a baby,
so you know, we can assume that it's probably happened
within the last year.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
And do we know what happens now, not just what
action was taken once they found out that this mistake
had been made, but also what happens now to the baby.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, So the clinic has been really transparent over the
last week in terms of what it's doing, what it's done,
and what it plans to do going forward. Its executive
team was alerted within hours of that discovery in February,
and then the regulator, which is the Fertility Society of
Australia and New Zealand, was also notified that same week.
(05:42):
So this has all been bubbling under the surface since February,
but we the public have obviously only learned about it
in the last week. In a statement, Monashe IVF said
an independent investigation is now underway alongside full process reviews
of its laboratory safety measures. Medical Groups CEO Michael Knapp
said the clinic has apologized to everyone involved and said
(06:06):
ongoing support will be provided to the parents. He added
that while the clinic is quote devastated, it is confident
that this was an isolated incident, but the whole debarcle
has really raised questions about what happens next for these families,
what it's going to mean from a legal perspective, who
gets custody, have any laws been broken, Will Monash be
(06:29):
sued or even face criminal action, etc.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Usually when we look at what the legalities around a
case are, we will look at the precedents or to
see if anything like this has happened before.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Has anything like this has happened before?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
So adding to the uncertainty, I suppose, is the fact
that this incident is thought to be the first of
its kind in Australia. So there are no known examples
that have happened within Australia, but there are a few
international examples that could provide a bit of a roadmap
for the way forward. Mind you, they all come out
of the US, these recent examples. So in twenty twenty one,
(07:06):
a similar mix up occurred in the state of California.
Two couples went through a clinic there and they ended
up raising babies that weren't biologically theirs for three months
before the error was detected. They did end up swapping
custody of the children, but both families sued that clinic,
and one family went public speaking about the psychological harm
(07:27):
that came from the incident. They said it was incredibly
traumatizing to go through. Also in California, a couple of
years earlier, in a separate clinic, there was a mix up.
That clinic was sued by a couple overclaims their embryo
was mistakenly implanted in a different woman who gave birth
to their son in twenty nineteen. And then more recently,
(07:48):
a woman in Georgia in the US sued a clinic
she had gone through IVF. She is a white woman,
her sperm donor was also white, but she gave birth
to a baby of African American appearance, and that's how
that particular mix up ended up coming to light. But
they all have very similar kind of origins and do
relate to what's gone on here in Queensland. But while
(08:11):
there are those concerning examples out of the US, this
is so rare and even rarer in Australia, to the
point of you know, Monash IVF in their response pointing
out that this is quote an isolated incident, which you know,
I'm sure everyone hopes that that is absolutely true.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
What has the response been like within the assisted fertility
industry to this story?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So we have heard from that regulator that I mentioned earlier,
the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand FSA and
Z i'll call them. It's a body that sets out
the standards and regulations for assisted reproductive technology in Australia.
It's released a statement that said, quote the trust patient's
place in our profession is sacred and we must continually
(08:53):
earn it through clear governance, shared responsibility and action. We
ask that the privacy of the families involved is respected
during this time as they work through what is undoubtedly
a complex and personal situation. But this has reignited conversation
about how IVF is regulated in Australia and safeguards and
what those are and how they protect patients and babies.
(09:16):
FSA and Z has actually been calling for a national roadmap.
This is well before this mix up unfolded. They are
calling for this decade long roadmap to future proof the
assisted fertility sector and to boost support for all families,
including non traditional families. And in September last year, it
actually handed down a review of the fertility sector. It
(09:39):
called for urgent reforms to address a raft of issues,
including the falling birth rate and access and cost. But
in terms of its relevancy for this story this week,
this tenire National Fertility Roadmap includes calls for national fertility
legislation to streamline regulations that differ between states and terror. Now,
(10:01):
I didn't realize that those regulations differed between the states
and territories, but f SA and Z called current inconsistencies
a primary concern that significantly impact children, parents, donors, and
assisted reproductive technology in general. So this report called on
health ministers to support the roadmap and ensure consistent legislation
(10:23):
across the nation to lead to improved and more equitable
outcomes for Australian families.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
You saying that has caused a light bulb moment in
my head, and I'm pretty sure we actually did cover
it last September. We did when it came out, So
we will put a link to that in the show notes.
But m how would more regulation in the industry have
potentially reduced the risk of what happened in Queensland happening.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, it's a really good question and I think there
is no clear cut answer given how I suppose, well,
the industry is perceived on a global scale to function
and operate here in Australia.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
But from these proposed.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Regulations, I think it's about centralizing standards and practices so
that every state and territory is working consistently to the
same level and adhering to the same kind of regulations. So,
for example, this report suggested establishing a national register and
a genetic bank to centralized genetic information of donors and
(11:23):
donor conceived children. It recommended national health standards for egg
and sperm donation to ensure consistency and quote safe futures
for children conceived by IVF and the regulator argues that
these approaches, among other suggestions, would ensure consistent reproductive and
privacy standards around the country now. At the time last
(11:44):
September when this report was handed down, the government said
that it would carefully consider the proposed framework. That we
haven't heard much since, and Shadow Health Minister Ann Rustin
at the time acknowledged that more work was needed to
improve policies.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
And so, do we know what will happen to the
custody of this child and is there anything within existing
Australian legislation that kind of sets out a roadmap when
this kind of thing happens, Although you did say that
this has never happened before.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Well, this is where an already complex story probably gets
even trickier because in Australia, biology and genetics don't actually
determine who has the right to parent a child. And
what that means in this instance is that we could
be in for a really complicated custody battle. The child's
biological parents have rights, but so does the birth mother,
(12:35):
and this split between birth parents versus biological parents becomes
quite crucial. And under Australian law, whoever gives birth to
the child is the legal mother. So there are obviously
so many moral and ethical questions as well as the
legal ones.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Raised by this issue.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And because we have very little information about the families
at the center of this case, it's really unclear as
to what the path forward in terms of custody could
look like if we look to the US example, there
was that bungle where a family agreed amicably to swap children.
We're talking about one baby here, two sets of families involved.
(13:16):
It's I'm sure going to be incredibly complex.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
And you mentioned that IVF regulations differ state by state.
What's the state of play in Queensland. Is there anything
that we know about the state that could impact the
next steps of this case.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So Queensland has actually faced its share of IVF controversies
over recent years. It has led to some reform, but
I suppose there has been a little bit of bad
pr back to back for the industry in Queensland. Specifically.
You might remember mid last year we covered a story
about thousands of frozen sperm donations being destroyed in Queensland.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I do remember that.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I thought you might very sharp. She's got a good Philly.
So the Health ovidsman in Queensland actually launched an investigation
into fertility service providers in the state after there were
several complaints from patients of alleged misconduct across the board.
Now this wasn't about one provider specifically, it was a
series of complaints and a trend that reflected concerns within
(14:17):
the industry. So that investigation examined data from sperm donations
over the past decade.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
It looked into twenty four.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Clinics who were licensed to provide IVF and the regulator
identified severe gaps and risks in the industry. Evidence from
hundreds of complaints included the misplacement of sperm and eggs,
the use of incorrect embryos, and mix ups in sperm samples.
It also identified screening issues for donors and challenges and
(14:48):
shortcomings in record keeping. For example, quote failure to maintain
accurate contact details for donors, an inadequate disclosure of medical
information to donor conceived children and recipients.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Wow, how did the Queensland government respond?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
It was quite a damning report and following the Queensland
Government actually passed the state's first law on.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Assisted reproductive technology.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So under those laws, Queensland Health now has the power
to inspect IVF providers. The government has also launched a
Donor Conception Information Register to hold details about procedures in
the state and when live births occur that are linked
to IVF. So there has been a bit of an overhaul.
But to your earlier question, you know whether or not
(15:33):
that would have prevented this mishandling or all this mix up.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You know who could say, and back to this case.
Just lastly, what has been the fallout for Monash IVF.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, so, monasch IVF is a really huge provider in
the IVF space. They run clinics right around the country,
so we're talking about their Brisbane clinic, but this is
a national organization. You may have actually heard of them
before because there was a major class action settled last
year involving Monash IVF. The provider was accused by more
(16:06):
than seven hundred complainants of using inaccurate genetic testing and
destroying potentially viable embryos. So at that time last year,
Monash agreed to a fifty six million dollar settlement. The
fallout from that was quite public and there were a
lot of on the record conversations in the media at
the time from those seven hundred people who brought the
(16:28):
action condemning Monash's practices. In terms of the legal action
it could face in the future, we still don't know.
But this is a publicly listed company and their share
price has fallen dramatically in the days since this news
came to light so huge ramifications for a very large
corporation there. We have heard from Queensland Health Minister Tim
(16:51):
Nichols who says the government is watching Monash's handling of
this current controversy closely and based on that it will
assess how to proceed and if it's going to use
those new powers to monitor the clinics specifically. He said,
we stand ready to provide whatever support we can to
the families to resolve this terrible, terrible situation. As the
regulator in the future, we will be ensuring that these
(17:13):
organizations do everything they can to make sure this terrible
type of event does not occur in the future. In
a statement on Friday, Queensland Health said it would work
with Monash IVF to reinforce safeguards and identify possible risks.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Wow, it's something that we will absolutely be keeping our
eye on as any more information comes out.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Thanks for explaining it, em Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
I have to say before we leave this entire podcast,
I've been thinking about my favorite book of all time,
which is called The Light Between Oceans, and it is
all about parents who raise a child who are different
to the biological parents. And then it's this huge custody
battle and I read it ten years ago and to
this day, I don't know what the right answer was
(17:56):
about who should have kept custody of the child.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, it's it's such an ethical and moral gray area,
but there you go, a podcast and a book wreck
or yes.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Thank you so much and for explaining again, and thank
you to everyone who has listened to this podcast. We'll
be back again this afternoon with your evening headlines, but
until then, have a great day. My name is Lily
Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda bunge Lung Chalcuttin woman
from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast
(18:29):
is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and
pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations.
We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
both past and present.
Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,
the sixteenth of April. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy Fitzimon's.
The story of an IVF mix up that led to
a woman giving birth to a stranger's baby has made
global headlines this month. The shocking incident might sound like
something out of a movie, or certainly something from another country,
(00:35):
but it has unfolded right here in Australia. The Queensland
Fertility Clinic at its center monash IVF in Brisbane, has
launched an investigation, but ultimately has blamed the mix up
on human error. In today's deep dive, we are going
to explore the legal questions raised by this mistake and
the ramifications it could have for the fertility industry.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Now, this story has captured international attention and it's easy
to understand why I have never heard of anything like
this happening yet before. Before we explain the fallout and
what it means for the families and also the clinic involved,
do you want to just take us through and what
exactly happened here?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So last week this shocking story broke where we learned
that a Brisbane fertility clinic is investigating after it found
out that a woman gave birth to a baby that
wasn't biologically hers. So that woman was a patient of
this clinic, Monash IVF, undergoing treatment there for in vitro fertilization,
(01:38):
and during that process she was implanted with the wrong embryo,
a fertilized egg that belonged to another couple also doing
IVF through Monash in Brisbane at that clinic. Now, in
terms of IVF in Australia where things are at, we're
talking about the most commonly used form of assisted reproductive
(01:59):
technology in the country. To give you a sense of
how popular it is, there are around nineteen thousand babies
born through IVF in Australia every year, and as a country,
we really are considered one of the world leaders in
this space. We're considered to be one of the safest
places in the world to have a baby through IVF.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I think that's part of what makes this so shocking,
is just how common IVF is in Australia. Yeah, and
I think the question that everyone has, I know I have,
is how did this possibly happen. And at what point
did they realize that this woman had been implanted with
the wrong embryo.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yes, so it was this result of an incorrect transfer
of an embryo. Now, if you're going through IVF for
couples doing IVF, the process might involve egg dodonation and
sperm donation and then fertilizing an embryo externally outside of
the body. Through IVF, that embryo gets transplanted into the
(02:56):
womb and hopefully a person falls pregnant through that process. Yes,
the clinic said that in February it learned that one
of its patients had been implanted with the wrong embryo,
with an embryo that was not her own. And I
think everyone really wants this to be more controversial or
a more satisfying kind of reason for why or how
(03:18):
this happened, but they've put it down to human error. Basically,
that's all we know about why this happened. And in
terms of how they found out, the woman involved wanted
to transfer her remaining embryos to another IVF provider, so
she had an embryo implanted. She had a pregnancy that
went to full term, she gave birth to a baby.
(03:39):
And then this couple said to Monash IVF, hey, can
you please send out embryos somewhere else?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And when Monash.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
IVF looked at those embryos, there were an unexpected number,
so they found out that there were extra embryos in
storage of those birth parents. That then led to an
internal investigation that confirmed that an embryo from a different
cup had been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents,
resulting in the birth of the child. Monash says that
(04:07):
it is truly sorry and it's now conducting a full
review of its processes.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
My goodness, you can't even imagine how it must have felt.
A when they discovered that that mistake had been made. Yeah,
but then B when the family was told that the
wrong embryo had been implanted in.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Them, Oh, devastating.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And after having gone through a full pregnancy and birth process.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Couples who use.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
IVF, you know, typically it's not easy for them to conceive,
so to jump through so many hurdles and get to
that point, I'm sure was completely earth shattering.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And just to be clear, so we know that they
discovered this in February, and at that point the woman
had already given birth and they were raising this baby.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yes, So we don't have any information on the age
of the baby or the names of the couples and
families involved.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Those details have been kept private.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We really don't know how old this child is, but
the clinic have referred to this embryo and a baby,
so you know, we can assume that it's probably happened
within the last year.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
And do we know what happens now, not just what
action was taken once they found out that this mistake
had been made, but also what happens now to the baby.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, So the clinic has been really transparent over the
last week in terms of what it's doing, what it's done,
and what it plans to do going forward. Its executive
team was alerted within hours of that discovery in February,
and then the regulator, which is the Fertility Society of
Australia and New Zealand, was also notified that same week.
(05:42):
So this has all been bubbling under the surface since February,
but we the public have obviously only learned about it
in the last week. In a statement, Monashe IVF said
an independent investigation is now underway alongside full process reviews
of its laboratory safety measures. Medical Groups CEO Michael Knapp
said the clinic has apologized to everyone involved and said
(06:06):
ongoing support will be provided to the parents. He added
that while the clinic is quote devastated, it is confident
that this was an isolated incident, but the whole debarcle
has really raised questions about what happens next for these families,
what it's going to mean from a legal perspective, who
gets custody, have any laws been broken, Will Monash be
(06:29):
sued or even face criminal action, etc.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Usually when we look at what the legalities around a
case are, we will look at the precedents or to
see if anything like this has happened before.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Has anything like this has happened before?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
So adding to the uncertainty, I suppose, is the fact
that this incident is thought to be the first of
its kind in Australia. So there are no known examples
that have happened within Australia, but there are a few
international examples that could provide a bit of a roadmap
for the way forward. Mind you, they all come out
of the US, these recent examples. So in twenty twenty one,
(07:06):
a similar mix up occurred in the state of California.
Two couples went through a clinic there and they ended
up raising babies that weren't biologically theirs for three months
before the error was detected. They did end up swapping
custody of the children, but both families sued that clinic,
and one family went public speaking about the psychological harm
(07:27):
that came from the incident. They said it was incredibly
traumatizing to go through. Also in California, a couple of
years earlier, in a separate clinic, there was a mix up.
That clinic was sued by a couple overclaims their embryo
was mistakenly implanted in a different woman who gave birth
to their son in twenty nineteen. And then more recently,
(07:48):
a woman in Georgia in the US sued a clinic
she had gone through IVF. She is a white woman,
her sperm donor was also white, but she gave birth
to a baby of African American appearance, and that's how
that particular mix up ended up coming to light. But
they all have very similar kind of origins and do
relate to what's gone on here in Queensland. But while
(08:11):
there are those concerning examples out of the US, this
is so rare and even rarer in Australia, to the
point of you know, Monash IVF in their response pointing
out that this is quote an isolated incident, which you know,
I'm sure everyone hopes that that is absolutely true.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
What has the response been like within the assisted fertility
industry to this story?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So we have heard from that regulator that I mentioned earlier,
the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand FSA and
Z i'll call them. It's a body that sets out
the standards and regulations for assisted reproductive technology in Australia.
It's released a statement that said, quote the trust patient's
place in our profession is sacred and we must continually
(08:53):
earn it through clear governance, shared responsibility and action. We
ask that the privacy of the families involved is respected
during this time as they work through what is undoubtedly
a complex and personal situation. But this has reignited conversation
about how IVF is regulated in Australia and safeguards and
what those are and how they protect patients and babies.
(09:16):
FSA and Z has actually been calling for a national roadmap.
This is well before this mix up unfolded. They are
calling for this decade long roadmap to future proof the
assisted fertility sector and to boost support for all families,
including non traditional families. And in September last year, it
actually handed down a review of the fertility sector. It
(09:39):
called for urgent reforms to address a raft of issues,
including the falling birth rate and access and cost. But
in terms of its relevancy for this story this week,
this tenire National Fertility Roadmap includes calls for national fertility
legislation to streamline regulations that differ between states and terror. Now,
(10:01):
I didn't realize that those regulations differed between the states
and territories, but f SA and Z called current inconsistencies
a primary concern that significantly impact children, parents, donors, and
assisted reproductive technology in general. So this report called on
health ministers to support the roadmap and ensure consistent legislation
(10:23):
across the nation to lead to improved and more equitable
outcomes for Australian families.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
You saying that has caused a light bulb moment in
my head, and I'm pretty sure we actually did cover
it last September. We did when it came out, So
we will put a link to that in the show notes.
But m how would more regulation in the industry have
potentially reduced the risk of what happened in Queensland happening.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, it's a really good question and I think there
is no clear cut answer given how I suppose, well,
the industry is perceived on a global scale to function
and operate here in Australia.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
But from these proposed.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Regulations, I think it's about centralizing standards and practices so
that every state and territory is working consistently to the
same level and adhering to the same kind of regulations. So,
for example, this report suggested establishing a national register and
a genetic bank to centralized genetic information of donors and
(11:23):
donor conceived children. It recommended national health standards for egg
and sperm donation to ensure consistency and quote safe futures
for children conceived by IVF and the regulator argues that
these approaches, among other suggestions, would ensure consistent reproductive and
privacy standards around the country now. At the time last
(11:44):
September when this report was handed down, the government said
that it would carefully consider the proposed framework. That we
haven't heard much since, and Shadow Health Minister Ann Rustin
at the time acknowledged that more work was needed to
improve policies.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
And so, do we know what will happen to the
custody of this child and is there anything within existing
Australian legislation that kind of sets out a roadmap when
this kind of thing happens, Although you did say that
this has never happened before.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Well, this is where an already complex story probably gets
even trickier because in Australia, biology and genetics don't actually
determine who has the right to parent a child. And
what that means in this instance is that we could
be in for a really complicated custody battle. The child's
biological parents have rights, but so does the birth mother,
(12:35):
and this split between birth parents versus biological parents becomes
quite crucial. And under Australian law, whoever gives birth to
the child is the legal mother. So there are obviously
so many moral and ethical questions as well as the
legal ones.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Raised by this issue.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And because we have very little information about the families
at the center of this case, it's really unclear as
to what the path forward in terms of custody could
look like if we look to the US example, there
was that bungle where a family agreed amicably to swap children.
We're talking about one baby here, two sets of families involved.
(13:16):
It's I'm sure going to be incredibly complex.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
And you mentioned that IVF regulations differ state by state.
What's the state of play in Queensland. Is there anything
that we know about the state that could impact the
next steps of this case.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So Queensland has actually faced its share of IVF controversies
over recent years. It has led to some reform, but
I suppose there has been a little bit of bad
pr back to back for the industry in Queensland. Specifically.
You might remember mid last year we covered a story
about thousands of frozen sperm donations being destroyed in Queensland.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I do remember that.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I thought you might very sharp. She's got a good Philly.
So the Health ovidsman in Queensland actually launched an investigation
into fertility service providers in the state after there were
several complaints from patients of alleged misconduct across the board.
Now this wasn't about one provider specifically, it was a
series of complaints and a trend that reflected concerns within
(14:17):
the industry. So that investigation examined data from sperm donations
over the past decade.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
It looked into twenty four.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Clinics who were licensed to provide IVF and the regulator
identified severe gaps and risks in the industry. Evidence from
hundreds of complaints included the misplacement of sperm and eggs,
the use of incorrect embryos, and mix ups in sperm samples.
It also identified screening issues for donors and challenges and
(14:48):
shortcomings in record keeping. For example, quote failure to maintain
accurate contact details for donors, an inadequate disclosure of medical
information to donor conceived children and recipients.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Wow, how did the Queensland government respond?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
It was quite a damning report and following the Queensland
Government actually passed the state's first law on.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Assisted reproductive technology.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So under those laws, Queensland Health now has the power
to inspect IVF providers. The government has also launched a
Donor Conception Information Register to hold details about procedures in
the state and when live births occur that are linked
to IVF. So there has been a bit of an overhaul.
But to your earlier question, you know whether or not
(15:33):
that would have prevented this mishandling or all this mix up.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You know who could say, and back to this case.
Just lastly, what has been the fallout for Monash IVF.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, so, monasch IVF is a really huge provider in
the IVF space. They run clinics right around the country,
so we're talking about their Brisbane clinic, but this is
a national organization. You may have actually heard of them
before because there was a major class action settled last
year involving Monash IVF. The provider was accused by more
(16:06):
than seven hundred complainants of using inaccurate genetic testing and
destroying potentially viable embryos. So at that time last year,
Monash agreed to a fifty six million dollar settlement. The
fallout from that was quite public and there were a
lot of on the record conversations in the media at
the time from those seven hundred people who brought the
(16:28):
action condemning Monash's practices. In terms of the legal action
it could face in the future, we still don't know.
But this is a publicly listed company and their share
price has fallen dramatically in the days since this news
came to light so huge ramifications for a very large
corporation there. We have heard from Queensland Health Minister Tim
(16:51):
Nichols who says the government is watching Monash's handling of
this current controversy closely and based on that it will
assess how to proceed and if it's going to use
those new powers to monitor the clinics specifically. He said,
we stand ready to provide whatever support we can to
the families to resolve this terrible, terrible situation. As the
regulator in the future, we will be ensuring that these
(17:13):
organizations do everything they can to make sure this terrible
type of event does not occur in the future. In
a statement on Friday, Queensland Health said it would work
with Monash IVF to reinforce safeguards and identify possible risks.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Wow, it's something that we will absolutely be keeping our
eye on as any more information comes out.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Thanks for explaining it, em Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
I have to say before we leave this entire podcast,
I've been thinking about my favorite book of all time,
which is called The Light Between Oceans, and it is
all about parents who raise a child who are different
to the biological parents. And then it's this huge custody
battle and I read it ten years ago and to
this day, I don't know what the right answer was
(17:56):
about who should have kept custody of the child.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, it's it's such an ethical and moral gray area,
but there you go, a podcast and a book wreck
or yes.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Thank you so much and for explaining again, and thank
you to everyone who has listened to this podcast. We'll
be back again this afternoon with your evening headlines, but
until then, have a great day. My name is Lily
Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda bunge Lung Chalcuttin woman
from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast
(18:29):
is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and
pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations.
We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
both past and present.
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