Singapore court denies compensation to woman in IVF mix-up

Singapore, March 23

A Singaporean woman inseminated by a sperm from an unknown Indian donor instead of her husband in a fertility treatment mix-up in 2010 cannot be compensated in full for raising the child, the city-state's top court has ruled.

The Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by the woman against an earlier High Court decision, which ruled that she was not entitled to bring the claim for upkeep costs against Thomson Medical, its fertility centre and the centre's senior embryologist and chief embryologist.

The woman and her husband went to the centre for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

A stranger's sperm - instead of her husband's - was used to fertilise her extracted eggs. The mistake resulted in her giving birth to a baby girl with her genetic make-up but not her husband's.

A blood test showed that Baby P's blood type could not have been a combination of both parents. Further investigations showed that the woman's egg had been fertilised with the sperm of an unknown Indian donor, instead of her husband's.

In a long-running lawsuit that started in 2012, the woman sued a private hospital, its fertility clinic and two fertility doctors after she was inseminated with the wrong sperm.

In 2015, the High Court disallowed the claim, citing policy considerations which view the birth of a healthy child as a blessing, the woman appealed.

The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court on the issue of upkeep costs, ruling it would be against public policy.

A negligence suit has been filed against Thomson Medical Clinic after an IVF mix-up in which a woman gave birth to a child conceived with a stranger's sperm.

"Given that the appellant and her husband have accepted Baby P as their own (and assumed the status of parents), they must be taken to have accepted the responsibility of maintaining Baby P (financially and in all other respects)," the court explained.

But the court also decided that the woman has suffered a loss of "genetic affinity".

"This loss of 'affinity' can also result in social stigma and embarrassment arising out of the misperceptions of others, as was the case here."

As for how much the woman can claim, the court considered that it should be set at 30 per cent of the financial costs of raising Baby P, with the precise quantum to be determined by the High Court.

The Court of Appeal said it would be preferable for the parties to arrive at an amicable settlement in order that closure might be achieved, reported the Singapore daily. —PTI