Tiffany Score and Steven Mills sue Florida IVF clinic after genetic testing reveals newborn baby is not related to them after black girl is born to white couple parents. Dr. Milton McNichol, id as head reproductive endocrinologist is named in the suit against IVF Life LLC.
A ‘white’ Florida couple have filed a lawsuit against a fertility clinic after a ‘non-Caucasian child’ was delivered in December, after the newborn was determined not to be biologically related to either one of them.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills allege that Orlando fertility clinic IVF Life, Inc., and its head reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Milton McNichol, implanted another patient’s embryo in Score’s uterus in April 2025.
So what exactly happened to the couple’s fertilized embryo and is another couple carrying their biological child?
The pair had hired IVF Life to help them conceive about five years ago by using in vitro fertilization (IVF). A regard of the fertility clinic’s site, states the clinic having ‘advanced fertility care’ and ‘cutting-edge technology.’
In 2020, the couple stored three viable embryos at the clinic for in vitro fertilization, a process that involves a woman’s eggs and a man’s sperm being fertilized outside her body. These embryos are then frozen until the parents decide to have them implanted in the woman, which was in April, 2025 for Score and Mills.
They welcomed a little girl into their family nine months later but upon observing that the newborn did not ‘racially’ resemble either one of the parents, immediately realized that something had gone horribly wrong and suspected that IVF Life, which operates as the Fertility Center of Orlando in Longwood, made an error.
The new parents claim they immediately knew something was wrong after the birth since they are ‘Caucasian’ and the baby ‘displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,’ the lawsuit stated according to News6.
Moral dilemma of raising wrong child couple have ‘have come to love’
Determined to discover the truth, the pair sought out genetic testing. This confirmed that the baby is not biologically theirs, the couple’s lawsuit stated.
Beyond the mix-up, Score and Mills also fear another person may have been implanted with their embryo and could be pregnant with or raising their child.
The couple filed their lawsuit on January 22 after allegedly trying to contact the clinic multiple times without getting a response.
‘They have fallen in love with this child,’ one of the couple’s lawyers, Jack Scarola, told the Orlando Sentinel.
‘They would be thrilled in the knowledge that they could raise this child. But their concern is that this is someone else’s child, and someone could show up at any time and claim the baby and take that baby away from them.’
Where did IVF Life LLC go wrong? Where is the couple’s fertilized embryo?
Score and Mills are also concerned that one of the three fertilized eggs they had frozen at the clinic may have been mistakenly implanted into someone else.
They have demanded that the clinic share what happened with all the other patients who had embryos stored at the facility during the year before Score gave birth.
Additionally, they want IVF Life to pay for the genetic testing of every child born as a result of its services over the last five years. Among their requests is that the clinic account for their remaining embryos, according to the lawsuit.
The parents emphasized that they ‘love our little girl’ in a statement to News6.
‘We would hope to be able to continue to raise her ourselves with confidence that she won’t be taken away from us,’ they continued.
‘At the same time, we are aware that we have a moral obligation to find and notify her biological parents, as it is in her best interest that her genetic parents are provided the option to raise her as their own.’
A family spokesman said that an investigation into the situation is ongoing.
‘Based upon leads discovered to date, and despite the lack of help or cooperation from the clinic, there is hope that we will be able to introduce our daughter to her genetic parents and to find our own genetic child soon,’ they said.
Who is Dr Milton McNichol, head IVF Life LLC reproductive endocrinologist?
The filing names IVF Life LLC and Dr Milton McNichol, who runs the clinic, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
McNichol received his medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 2004 and is praised by patients and colleagues for his gentle bedside manner and clinical expertise, according to Issuewire.com.
Considered one of Orlando’s best-known fertility doctors, he has racked up accolades over the years, including six Patients’ Choice Awards, four Compassionate Doctor recognitions, and a top 10 doctor ranking in Florida in 2014.
McNichol was reprimanded by Florida’s Board of Medicine in May 2024 after an inspection of the clinic in June 2023 revealed several issues.
These reportedly included equipment that ‘did not meet current performance standards,’ not complying with a risk-management agenda and missing medication.
He was fined $5,000 as a result of the offenses, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Come Wednesday an emergency hearing was held before Judge Margaret Schreiber, where the couple’s lawyer, Scarola argued the embryo mix-up may have occurred in 2020 or during the 2025 implantation and demanded five years of clinic-paid genetic testing, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Scarola criticized the clinic for the ‘horrendous error’ and said it was fortunate the issue is ‘very uncommon,’ while acknowledging the case is difficult because there is no clear precedent.
‘There’s not a lot of Florida law for you all to reach a resolution that will provide the answers that the plaintiffs in this case are seeking, and the protections that the defendants are wanting to ensure remain in place for their clients,’ Schreiber said, according to the outlet.
In a since-deleted notice on its website, the clinic said it is ‘actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them.’
During the court session, the judge ordered the clinic to submit a thorough plan for handling the situation by Friday.
