An Orlando-area couple says their dream of starting a family through in vitro fertilization turned into a real-life nightmare after DNA testing revealed the baby they carried and delivered is not biologically related to either of them. Now they are asking a judge to force a Longwood fertility clinic to help unravel how what court filings describe as an embryo mix-up left them caring for a child they adore while desperately trying to learn what happened to the embryos they entrusted to the clinic.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills filed a complaint in Orange County Circuit Court after genetic tests allegedly showed their daughter, Shea, has no genetic link to either parent, according to People. The lawsuit says Score underwent an embryo transfer in April 2025 and that the couple had previously created and cryopreserved three embryos at the clinic in 2020.
What the parents are asking for
The couple’s attorneys are urging the court to preserve clinic records, require the facility to notify any potentially affected patients, and order clinic-funded genetic testing for children born from embryos handled there over the past five years, as reported by WFTV. Score and Mills say they want to keep raising the child who has been their daughter since birth, but they also say they feel a “moral obligation” to identify her genetic parents and to learn whether any of their own embryos may have been implanted in someone else.
Court hearing and embryo questions
At a recent hearing, the judge ordered the clinic to present a plan for how it will handle the investigation and scheduled weekly status conferences while the fact-finding process moves forward, according to FOX 35 Orlando. Attorneys for the couple told the court they see two possible “risk pools” for the error: a March 26, 2020 egg retrieval and an April 5, 2025 transfer. They also flagged concerns about one remaining embryo that is still in cryostorage at the clinic.
Clinic response and past scrutiny
The clinic has said it is cooperating with the investigation, but its lawyers argue that patient-privacy rules limit what information can be disclosed without consent, according to People. Public practitioner records and media reports show the clinic’s medical director, Dr. Milton McNichol, received a disciplinary reprimand from a Florida licensing authority in 2024, a notation that appears in practitioner profile records. VA Health Provider licensure records list the 2024 action.
Why this matters – legal and medical context
Embryo mix-ups are considered rare, but they are well documented, and when they surface, they tend to bring complicated questions about custody, disclosure, and liability that few families or clinics feel prepared to handle. Reviews of malpractice cases and medical reporting note that labeling errors and breakdowns in laboratory processes often emerge as key factors, and that the resulting lawsuits can play out very differently from one jurisdiction to another. A review of reported claims and court decisions found that these cases are legally complex and unpredictable, The Hospitalist reports.
Guidance for fertility clinics has increasingly focused on reducing the chance of human error through strict protocols. Clinic-level best practices such as two-person verification, traceable labeling, and independent checks are recommended to help safeguard embryos and gametes, according to a 2023 review of IVF laboratory risks and mitigation strategies. The Middle East Fertility Society Journal describes those safeguards and their implementation in detail.
What’s next
Attorneys for Score and Mills say they want broad testing and disclosures ordered so they can identify the child’s genetic parents and learn what became of their embryos. The judge has set deadlines for the clinic to comply with discovery requests and to submit its investigative plan, FOX 35 Orlando reports. For now, the baby remains in the couple’s care while the legal and investigative process continues to unfold in court.
