A Florida couple is taking legal action against a fertility clinic after making a shocking discovery: the baby they carried and delivered is not biologically theirs.
Tiffany Score and her partner Steven Mills were overjoyed when they learned they were expecting after undergoing IVF treatment nearly five years ago. The couple turned to IVF Life — operating as the Fertility Center of Orlando — to help them conceive.
Like many IVF patients, their embryos were created outside the body and frozen until they were ready for implantation. In April, one of those embryos was transferred, and nine months later, Score gave birth to a baby girl.
But almost immediately, something didn’t feel right.
A Shocking Discovery
Both parents are white, yet their newborn appeared to be of a different racial background. The couple grew increasingly concerned and eventually sought genetic testing.
The results were devastating: the child was not biologically related to either of them.
According to a lawsuit filed on January 22, the couple believes the clinic made a catastrophic error — possibly implanting another couple’s embryo into Score, while their own embryo may have been transferred to someone else.
“They’ve fallen in love with this child,” said their attorney, Jack Scarola. “They would be happy to raise her. But they live in fear that someone could show up at any time and take her away.”
A Family in Limbo
The couple says they repeatedly tried to contact the clinic for answers but received no response, prompting them to take legal action.
They are now demanding that IVF Life:
- Explain how the error happened
- Account for their remaining embryos
- Notify all patients whose embryos were stored at the facility during the same period
- Pay for genetic testing for children born through the clinic over the past five years
They also fear that one of their embryos may have been mistakenly implanted into another woman.
In a statement, Score and Mills said they love the child deeply but feel a moral responsibility to find her biological parents.
“We love our little girl,” they said. “But we also know her biological parents deserve the chance to know her — and she deserves the chance to know them.”
Clinic Under Scrutiny
IVF Life and its director, Dr. Milton McNichol, are named in the lawsuit. The clinic briefly posted a statement online saying it was cooperating with an investigation into an error that resulted in a child being born to the wrong parents. That statement was later removed.
During a recent court hearing, a judge ordered the clinic to submit a detailed plan explaining how it intends to handle the situation.
The case has drawn further attention to the clinic’s past issues. In 2024, Dr. McNichol was fined $5,000 after state inspectors found multiple violations, including outdated equipment, missing medication, and failures in risk management procedures.
Still Searching for Answers
A family spokesperson said an independent investigation is ongoing and that there is hope both families will eventually be identified.
“Despite the lack of cooperation from the clinic, we believe we will find our child’s biological parents — and our own genetic child,” the spokesperson said.
For now, the couple remains in an emotional limbo, raising a baby they love deeply while grappling with the possibility that she may one day be taken from them.
