'I was robbed of the ability to carry my own child': Parents sue after woman received a different couple's embryo

Daphna and Alexander Cardinale have filed a lawsuit after Daphna carried and gave birth to another couple's baby.

The embryo was placed with Daphna Cardinale via an in vitro fertilization procedure in 2019, the Los Angeles Times Times reported. The other couple, called "Couple Two" in the suit, got the Cardinales' embryo, the outlet noted.

The shocking discovery did not come to light until after the couples had already been caring for the newborn children as their own.

"The heartbreak and confusion cannot be understated," Daphna Cardinale said Monday during a news conference after she and her husband lodged suit against the California Center for Reproductive Health as well as its medical director Dr. Eliran Mor, according to the Times.

"Also named in the suit are In VitroTech Labs, a third-party embryology center, and its parent company, Beverly Sunset Surgical Associates, both owned by Mor," the outlet reported. "The couple are alleging breach of contract, medical malpractice, negligence, infliction of emotional distress and the knowing misuse of their embryo, among other infractions, and are seeking punitive and compensatory damages."

The families have swapped children so that each baby is now living with its biological parents, but the experience took a toll.

"It was torture that shook me to my core and forever changed who I am," Daphna Cardinale said, according to the outlet. "I was robbed of the ability to carry my own child."

The two couples have sought to remain a part of each other's lives and "forge a larger family," Daphna Cardinale noted, according to the Associated Press.

"They were just as much in love with our biological daughter as we were with theirs," Alexander Cardinale said, according to the outlet.

The other couple also plans to lodge a lawsuit, according to attorney Adam Wolf, who represents the four parents impacted by this episode, according to the AP.