Woman Listed as the Mother of a Baby Boy She Has Never Met on IVF Database

A woman was shocked after learning that she was listed as the biological mother of a baby boy she has never met on the IVF’s registration of birth database.

Debbie Haigh, from Melbourne, has called for an investigation into the records of births that used donor eggs and sperm after she was listed incorrectly on the registration of birth database.

Ms Haigh said she learned about this when she received a letter from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages stating that she was listed as the mother of a one-year-old boy. In fact, the boy is the son of another woman Ms Haigh said she has never met who is in a same-sex partnership, and gave birth two years apart from her.

She said that she and the woman underwent fertility treatment at Melbourne IVF and gave birth at the Epworth Freemasons Hospital.

Being adopted as a child, Ms Haigh told the Herald Sun that incorrect birth records can be traumatic for a child.

“Information like this, especially when it comes out 18 years later, can destroy families, it can destroy relationships. How are these children supposed to find out their genetic history?,” she said.

Ms Haigh said she was told in the letter that if the baby boy was to ever contact the registry about his birth, he would be informed his conception was a result of a donor treatment procedure.

Sheree Argento, a spokeswoman at Victoria’s Department of Justice and Regulation explained that the mix-up was due to a human error matching certificates at Births, Deaths and Marriages. “While we have a number of processes in place to reduce the risk of mistakes, unfortunately sometimes errors do occur,” she told the Herald Sun.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk