Monash IVF Brisbane clinic apologises for implanting wrong embryo in patient

A Brisbane IVF clinic has apologised after it mistakenly implanted the incorrect embryo in a patient, resulting in a woman unknowingly giving birth to a stranger’s baby.

A statement from the clinic said the error was discovered in February 2025 when the birth parents requested the transfer of their remaining embryos to another IVF provider.

When the clinic went to complete the transfer, they noticed that there was one more embryo in storage than expected.

The incident was escalated and Monash IVF executives determined that an embryo from a different patient had been incorrectly thawed and transferred to the birth parents.

The child has since been born.

A statement from the organisation said the incident happened as a result of “human error”.

“While we understand the public interest in this matter, the privacy of the families involved — including the child — has been our priority,” the statement said.

Monash IVF CEO Michael Knaap said the organisation was devastated by the discovery.

“On behalf of Monash IVF, I want to say how truly sorry I am for what has happened,” he said.

“All of us at Monash IVF are devastated and we apologise to everyone involved. We will continue to support the patients through this extremely distressing time.

“Since becoming aware of this incident, we have undertaken additional audits and we’re confident that this is an isolated incident.

“We are reinforcing all our safeguards across our clinics — we also commissioned an independent investigation and are committed to implementing its recommendations in full.”

The news comes less than a year after Monash IVF was caught up in a class action lawsuit that resulted in a staggering $56 million payout for negligence.

The organisation said in the statement that it had commissioned high-profile lawyer Fiona McLeod AO SC to hold an independent investigation into the incident.

“Monash IVF has reported the incident to the relevant regulators, including the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee.

“It also voluntarily reported the incident to the new Queensland ART regulator.”