Accidental Siblings

 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a full biological sibling in the world that you are unaware exists? While the chances of such an occurrence are rare, in the field of reproductive technology, it is very common to have anonymous half siblings via donors. A recent case of full blood siblings came to light when two women used donor eggs from the same woman, later to find out they coincidentally chose the same sperm donor. It is amazing that such a case would occur and although the odds are not in anyone’s favor, the growing field of reproductive technology definitely increases one’s chances.

Here is how it occurred... Both women underwent their donor-recipient cycles and each conceived twin gestations a few months apart from each other. While reviewing recently completed cycles in their database, it was noted that two patients selected the exact same egg donor and the exact same sperm donor. The full-sibling embryos had been created and transferred to two different women. At the time that this realization occurred, the first woman was at 23 weeks’ gestational age with an ongoing pregnancy and supernumerary frozen embryos. The second woman suffered a spontaneous miscarriage at 9 weeks’ gestational age, but has frozen embryos for a potential future cycle

Due to the fact that the doctors contained knowledge of the full sibling embryos, it is a possibility that they must disclose this information to the parents/siblings. Legal concerns are continuously being investigated on the proper way to handle such a rare circumstance.