A Florida couple claims a fertility clinic error led to the birth of a “non-Caucasian child” who was not biologically theirs, according to a lawsuit.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills allege that Orlando fertility clinic IVF Life, Inc., and its head reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Milton McNichol, implanted another patient’s embryo in Score’s uterus in April 2025, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Thursday.
In 2020, Score and Mills stored three viable embryos at the clinic — which boasts about its “advanced fertility care” and “cutting-edge technology” — for in vitro fertilization, a process that creates embryos and stores them until pregnancy.
Five years later, after an embryo was implanted, the couple then gave birth to a “beautiful, healthy female child” on Dec. 11, 2025, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 22 in Orange County Circuit Court and obtained by Law & Crime.
The new parents claim they immediately knew something was wrong after the birth since they are “Caucasian” and the baby “displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,” the lawsuit said.
Later genetic testing confirmed the baby had “no genetic relationship” to either parent.
Scores and Mills’ attorney, John Scarola, said he sent the clinic a letter on behalf of the couple on Jan. 5 demanding it unite the baby “with her genetic parents” and to explain what happened to his clients’ embryos.
Beyond the devastating mix-up, they also fear another person may have been implanted with their embryo and could be pregnant with or raising their child.
The lawsuit states the couple formed an “intensely strong emotional bond” with the baby during the pregnancy that continues to grow, with the child remaining in their care, Law & Crime reported.
Though they are willing to raise the child themselves, the couple feels a legal and moral obligation to unite the baby with her genetic parents and hand her over to them if they wish.
“They have fallen in love with this child,” Scarola told the Orlando Sentinel.
“They would be thrilled in the knowledge that they could raise this child. But their concern is that this is someone else’s child, and someone could show up at any time and claim the baby and take that baby away from them.”
The lawsuit is seeking emergency court action to force the clinic to alert all affected patients, pay for widespread genetic testing, and disclose whether other families may have been impacted by the embryo mix-up.
McNichol received his medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 2004 and is praised by patients and colleagues for his gentle bedside manner and clinical expertise, according to Issuewire.com.
Considered to be one of Orlando’s best-known fertility doctors, he has racked up accolades over the years, including six Patients’ Choice Awards, four Compassionate Doctor recognitions, and a top 10 doctor ranking in Florida in 2014.
An emergency hearing was held on Wednesday before Judge Margaret Schreiber, where Scarola argued the embryo mix-up may have occurred in 2020 or during the 2025 implantation and demanded five years of clinic-paid genetic testing, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Scarola slammed the clinic for the “horrendous error” and said it was fortunate the issue is “very uncommon,” while acknowledging the case is difficult because there is no clear precedent.
“There’s not a lot of Florida law for you all to reach a resolution that will provide the answers that the plaintiffs in this case are seeking, and the protections that the defendants are wanting to ensure remain in place for their clients,” Schreiber said, according to the outlet.
In a since-deleted notice on its website, the clinic said it is “actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
