Impregnated with Wrong Sperm

by simplesally 24 Replies latest social current

  • simplesally
    simplesally

    Did you read the story about the lady who got inseminated with the wrong sperm? It was not her fiance's sperm, who is black, the lady is black as well. Well, the 'donor' is white.

    Her doctor tried to get her to take a morning after pill but she did not .... according to GMA this morning, she was in the "I wanna get pregnant" frame of mind, so to go to the "let's abort" was not what she was about to do.

    What surprised me was the interview and they asked how she felt about the baby. She said it's like 'adopting' or a 'having a surrogate'

    Well, sorry........but she is the natural mother!! It was artificial insemination, not an in-vitro with an egg/sperm donor!

    Anyway, how would you feel?

    Here is the story from the other day

    (Trumbull-WTNH, July 9, 2004 6:00 PM) _ It was the moment a Trumbull woman had dreamed about most of her life, but that dream has turned into a nightmare because of a medical mistake. She was impregnated with the wrong sperm.

    For years Laura Howard and her fiance wanted to have a baby. She had been through the insemination process twice before. Each time it failed. In May she went to a Bridgeport fertility clinic to try again. This time she got pregnant, but she claims it's with the wrong man's sperm.

    "I was just distraught and in shock."

    It should be a happy time for 40-year-old Laura Howard of Trumbull. After five years of trying to have a child with her fiance, she is two months pregnant.

    Instead, she is a lawyer's office with friends by her side for support. Howard claims something went terribly wrong with the insemination process at the Infertility Institute in Bridgeport and she's planning on suing her doctor.

    "I had the procedure done and was told immediately following that the wrong sperm specimen was supplied. It was not that of my partner's."

    And there was another shock for the African American couple. Howard says the sperm belonged to a white man.

    According to Howard, fertility specialist Dr. Anthony Santomauro immediately tried to convince her to terminate the pregnancy, But Howard is keeping it. She feels it may be her last chance at motherhood.

    "The race is unimportant and I want this child to be happy and I want this child to grow and feel complete and whole."

    News Channel 8 tried to reach Dr. Santomauro for comment but he was not in today.

    Laura Howard says the whole mixup is right there in her medical file.

    "It says the site tech had advised the doctor that sperm sample given was the wrong sperm sample for the patient."

    Howard worries about the medical history of the man she calls the unwitting donor. But because of privacy laws Howard says Dr. Santomauro has refused to release his health records so she plans on filing a lawsuit.

    "I do not have a clue of their background. Does he have hepatitis? Does he have HIV?

    Despite the troubling situation Laura is determined to move forward.

    "I will go through with my pregnancy and I will have my child. And I will be a happy mother on my delivery day. But I really would like to know and need to know what I and this child are facing health-wise for the future."

    The Department of Public Health says Dr. Anthony Santomauro has no complaints or actions on file against him.

    Howard says they don't want or need to know the name of the man who's sperm was used. They just want his medical history. In order to obtain those records Howard's lawyer, Bruce Jacobs, told us they are planning to file a lawsuit next week.

  • confusedjw
    confusedjw

    It was just on the radio and the woman spoke about it in a short quote.

    I wish I was their lawyer.

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    If I were her fiancé I would be VERY upset at her for not taking the morning-after pill.

    She gets to have her child, but he is left raising a stranger's child.

    One of the great joys of raising a child is knowing that a small piece of yourself will continue to live after you are gone. The fiancé has been denied this and is actually stuck with the responsibilities of raising another man's child.

    What she did was very selfish.

  • desib77
    desib77

    I read about this yesterday. The article I read said something about the fiance' not wanting to raise someone elses child.

    I can completely understand how they feel but both of them really had better shape up. They have chosen to go through with the pregnancy and that child will need a loving mother and father not two people who resent him/her. I would hate to see the child punished because of this mistake.

    The article I read also said that she had originally requested the prescription to end the pregnancy. I guess I just feel that she really doesn't know what she wants to do and that may affect the quality of the child's life in the long run.

  • Atilla
    Atilla

    I'm just guessing but it sounds like the problem was on his end. I mean 2 times before they tried with no sucess, and then bam sucess with some other guys junk.

  • Simon
    Simon
    Instead, she is a lawyer's office with friends by her side for support. Howard claims something went terribly wrong with the insemination process at the Infertility Institute in Bridgeport and she's planning on suing her doctor.

    "I had the procedure done and was told immediately following that the wrong sperm specimen was supplied. It was not that of my partner's."

    I hate to by cynical but I wonder if she saw dollar signs. She probably should get something for the mistake but it's not the hospitals fault if she then decided she wanted to keep it surely?

  • Doubtfully Yours
    Doubtfully Yours

    How about some time ago, the lady that gave birth to twins, one white and one black due to the same type of mistake?

    I'm not too sympathetic for the people that mess with nature in this way. Plus these methods are soooooooo expensive.

    I mean, why not accept it if you're not meant to reproduce naturally, and perhaps opt for helping a child that's already here and needs the help? Oh, oh, oh, please forgive me, I forgot the selfish motives get in the way; you know, the "I want him/her to look like me" or "It's gotta be from my own flesh and blood if I'm going to mother/father it" or "Must be of our own blood to continue on the famility name", etc.

    Sorry, I get a bit 'trolly' about fertility procedures.

    DY

  • RunningMan
    RunningMan

    According to the Watchtower, the woman is now an adulterer, and should be disfellowshipped.

  • dubla
    dubla
    it's not the hospitals fault if she then decided she wanted to keep it surely?

    that depends on what her moral views of abortion are. she could certainly make a case, i would think, that her personal beliefs wouldn't allow her to end the pregnancy, and in that scenario the hospital would be completely liable for any suffering she incurred because of their mistake.

    the flip side of it, as far as it goes, is that she could probably have an abortion, and still sue the hospital for suffering.....either way they are liable, and i personally have no problem with someone suing over a case like this.....it wasnt exactly a small mistake.

    aa

  • Evesapple
    Evesapple

    First of all, as many of us have learned on being "out" of the JW association is being less judgemental. To accuse this woman of being selfish Elsewhere is a bit harsh. You don't know the conversation she and her fiancee have had, obviously they are still together.....it's a terrible mistake, but nonetheless a child was produced, from her perspective, the right thing to do is still have this baby. what if she tried again later and then never got pregnant....yes their are a lot of needy children out there, but don't be so judgemental because someone chooses to have a baby naturally and go thru a lot of procedures to get there. What she has right to is the child's natural father's health record.....the doctor f**d up, his resolve was a quick fix cover up....the morning after pill.....I'm quite certain he will be more careful next time.

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