‘Kid not biologically ours’: Couple sues IVF clinic, blames info denial for death
Times of India | 26 March 2025
12 Kolkata: A city couple, who became parents via IVF but were unaware that the ovum and sperm were not theirs, has moved Calcutta High Court seeking action against an IVF centre, blaming them for the death of their four-year-old daughter by not disclosing donor details that were necessary for her bone marrow transplant.
Rahul and Gunjan Kothari became parents in 2019 through IVF. It was only in 2021, when their daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant that a DNA test revealed that the child was born through donor embryo transfer, a process in which an embryo created from donor egg and sperm is transplanted in the recipient's uterus to achieve pregnancy. The parents claimed they were unaware of this and had not given consent. The IVF centre contended the donor embryo was implanted after obtaining wife's consent.
Since the child needed bone marrow from biological parents, the couple approached their IVF facility, Institute of Human Reproduction, seeking their genetic details of both. The facility disclosed the identity of the biological mother but not the father. A bone marrow transplant from the biological mother was unsuccessful and the child passed away on March 9, 2023.
The parents filed a complaint at Karaya police station claiming Gunjan's signature on the consent form was forged, but a handwriting expert disagreed, leading to the police filing a closure report.
The parents approached West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC), which on Jan 22 held that the IVF centre was liable for irregularity by not taking the signature of both parents as mentioned in the 2005 national guidelines, and directed the IVF centre to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh. The Commission called the father's missing signature a "irregularity" with "serious" consequences.
Despite repeated calls, the centre did not respond to TOI queries.
In their petition, the parents said the litigation was never initiated for the imposition of a penalty. "The principal prayer was for the cancellation of the licence of the clinical establishment," it states. The parents have demanded to know the number of IVF procedures conducted by the centre.
The matter is likely to be heard by Justice Amrita Sinha on Friday, said Srijib Chakraborty, the parents' counsel.
The parents in their petition referred to the opinion of WBCERC member Maitrayee Banerjee who said, "Certain key clauses of the national guidelines were disregarded. These intentional lapses were unlawful and may have contributed to the death of baby Esha."
The IVF centre questioned the maintainability of the complaint before WBCERC stating that police had filed a closure report in the criminal complaint and the case was dropped. The parents' counsel, however, informed that they had filed a ‘narazi' petition.