DNA tests have made it possible to confirm that there was a mix-up of embryos at Rome's Sandro Pertini hospital during assisted-fertility treatments and identify the biological parents of twins being carried by a woman who is not their genetic mother, ANSA sources said Thursday. Rome prosecutors are investigating the case after the woman who is pregnant with the twins said prenatal tests had shown that she was not the genetic mother of them.
Since news of the case broke at the weekend, the hospital has been inundated with calls from parents who are concerned that children they are expecting or have had thanks to fertility treatments may not related to them genetically.
The switch is thought to have occurred on December 4, when four women were scheduled to have viable embryos implanted.
Three of them became pregnant as a result of the procedure.
The woman who did not get pregnant has threatened legal action if it turns out that another person is carrying a child or children who are genetically hers. "If the embryos were mine, then obviously the children are mine as well. I couldn't live with the idea that children of mine are growing up somewhere in Italy," the fourth, a 36-year-old Rome woman, told local newspapers. "We were four aspiring mothers. The others are pregnant and I'm not". Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said Wednesday that she has asked for an investigation by regional authorities to ensure that proper procedures are in place and were followed. She also expressed confidence in national standards set for assisted-fertility treatments. "I want to reassure everyone that in Italy every day hundreds and hundreds of these insemination interventions proceed and are very safe," said Lorenzin. "When these things (reported mix-ups) happen, it is because someone did not comply with the control procedures," she added. Rome's Pertini hospital has helped hundreds of people with assisted-fertility treatments.
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