When first we practice to conceive....
Posted on 07/10/2004 7:51:28 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
(Trumbull-WTNH, July 9, 2004 6:00 PM) _ It was the moment a Trumbull woman had dreamed about most of her life, but that dream has turned into a nightmare because of a medical mistake. She was impregnated with the wrong sperm.
For years Laura Howard and her fiance wanted to have a baby. She had been through the insemination process twice before. Each time it failed. In May she went to a Bridgeport fertility clinic to try again. This time she got pregnant, but she claims it's with the wrong man's sperm.
"I was just distraught and in shock."
It should be a happy time for 40-year-old Laura Howard of Trumbull. After five years of trying to have a child with her fiance, she is two months pregnant.
Instead, she is a lawyer's office with friends by her side for support. Howard claims something went terribly wrong with the insemination process at the Infertility Institute in Bridgeport and she's planning on suing her doctor.
"I had the procedure done and was told immediately following that the wrong sperm specimen was supplied. It was not that of my partner's."
And there was another shock for the African American couple. Howard says the sperm belonged to a white man.
According to Howard, fertility specialist Dr. Anthony Santomauro immediately tried to convince her to terminate the pregnancy, But Howard is keeping it. She feels it may be her last chance at motherhood.
"The race is unimportant and I want this child to be happy and I want this child to grow and feel complete and whole."
News Channel 8 tried to reach Dr. Santomauro for comment but he was not in today.
Laura Howard says the whole mixup is right there in her medical file.
"It says the site tech had advised the doctor that sperm sample given was the wrong sperm sample for the patient."
Howard worries about the medical history of the man she calls the unwitting donor. But because of privacy laws Howard says Dr. Santomauro has refused to release his health records so she plans on filing a lawsuit.
"I do not have a clue of their background. Does he have hepatitis? Does he have HIV?
Despite the troubling situation Laura is determined to move forward.
"I will go through with my pregnancy and I will have my child. And I will be a happy mother on my delivery day. But I really would like to know and need to know what I and this child are facing health-wise for the future."
The Department of Public Health says Dr. Anthony Santomauro has no complaints or actions on file against him.
Howard says they don't want or need to know the name of the man who's sperm was used. They just want his medical history. In order to obtain those records Howard's lawyer, Bruce Jacobs, told us they are planning to file a lawsuit next week.
For gosh sakes, she is not married, so why does she care whose sperm she gets. Seems to me anyone who wants a child with a particular person, just might marry them.
These people are engaged and paying for fertility treatment for five (5!) years and they haven't bothered to get married? What is wrong with them?
I wonder how often they get the wrong sperm when there isn't a racial difference. This sounds like sloppy handling and record keeping. I wonder why the name of the donor is not put onto the packaging in which the sperm is stored? It's not as if this were an anonymous sperm donation.
Mixed-up turkey basters--I hate when that happens.
A classic swimming pool case...
While I think they should be married before having kids, I am impressed that they plan to have this child and not abort it.
Oops!
On second thought…
How do we KNOW it was the turkey baster’s fault? Maybe, it happen the old-fashioned way?? Hmmmm?
”Woman, where did that white baby come from?”
It says African American couple. But it doesn't say whether SHE is black, HE is black, if they are mulattos or whatever. It seems that sometimes people say they are African American WHEN THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A BENEFIT. I'm not accusing, just saying they we may be short on facts here.
All she is suing for is the medical history. This story could be so much worse! I hope the live happily ever after (and get married).
If she has been trying to five years and is a level headed individual, this will be unimportant within a month. And FTR, IMO mixed race children tend to be gorgeous, so she should think about that as well if she is going to dwell on the race issue.
Could be she wouldn't marry the guy unless proven he could give her children - some gals with their clock ticking get a little unbalanced. 5 years is a really long time.
[Blazing Saddles]
Just wait until some leftist judge forces the sperm donor to pay child support.
"Howard says the sperm belonged to a white man."
A Caucasian in the woodpile?
How would this story have read if it had been a European-American couple and they were complaining because the sperm came from an African-American?? I'm sorry, but I'm convinced there would be screams of racism and the NAACP would be all over this one, big time. Indeed, that's what I expected when I first began reading this article. Can we say "double-standard"?
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