Florida couple accuse fertility clinic of using stranger’s sperm for daughter’s embryo in IVF mix-up: ‘Betrayed’
A Florida couple has accused a fertility clinic of using another man’s sperm to create their daughter’s embryo — as their dream of being biological parents was upended when they learned of their child’s DNA.
Joshua and Natalie Strong alleged that Brown Fertility clinic officials in Jacksonville, Fla., including Medical Director Dr. Samuel Brown and 10 other defendants, caused the mix-up that resulted in their 1-year-old daughter’s biological father being a stranger, according to a lawsuit obtained by The Post.
“They trusted Brown Fertility, as well as its founder and owner, Samuel E. Brown, M.D., with the family they hoped to build. That trust was betrayed,” the couple said in the lawsuit filed in Duval County Circuit Court Thursday.
“The Strongs are now raising a daughter whose paternity test confirms that another man, not Joshua, fathered her.”
The married couple had been vying for children of their own and chose Brown Fertility but were left devastated when they learned the results of their daughter’s DNA.
“It’s a daily struggle with the emotional aspect of it because you do have sadness and anger in the same day, you also have joy and love,” Joshua Strong told Jacksonville’s First Coast News.
Joshua, who had a vasectomy earlier in his life, needed to undergo an invasive surgical sperm retrieval and produced four vials of sperm.
The couple paid Brown Fertility, named one of “America’s Best Fertility Clinics” in 2025, “tens of thousands of dollars” for the services.
The vials were given to Brown Fertility under the specific terms that the clinic would create embryos by fertilizing Natalie’s oocytes, which would later be transferred to her.
Natalie gave birth to a baby girl in June 2025, but the couple noticed something wrong almost immediately.
“Within the first day of life, routine newborn blood typing produced a result that did not fit,” the suit alleged. “The Strongs’ daughter typed Blood Type B Positive. That result is biologically impossible given Natalie’s blood type, O Negative, and Joshua’s blood type, A Negative.”
Additional DNA testing later revealed there was a 0% probability Joshua was the newborn’s father
“It took away the euphoria of having a baby,” Natalie told the outlet. “It was my first child, I was in heaven. It was the best day of my life and then when that hit us, it took all the happiness away, which we should have had for a very long time.”
The couple has told the clinic of the test results but have not gotten answers.
“Despite irrefutable DNA evidence, Brown Fertility and Dr. Brown have refused to admit what they did, refused to account for Joshua’s missing sperm, and refused to take responsibility,” the suit says.
It was the second time the couple had gone through the IVF process with the clinic, as Natalie had had a miscarriage one month into their first try in mid-2024.
The couple claims Brown Fertility had used the wrong sperm for the first pregnancy too, and the location of Joshua’s sperm was revealed.
The couple alleged the clinic has not revealed where Joshua’s sperm has gone, whether it was misplaced, discarded or used to create another couple’s embryo without their knowledge.
“The Strongs do not know whether Joshua has biological children, fathered without his knowledge, being raised today by other Brown Fertility patients who have no idea,” the suit says
The Strongs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000 and a trial by jury in the case.
“Natalie suffers the daily knowledge that her body was used, twice, to carry a stranger’s child,” the lawsuit says.
“Joshua suffers the daily knowledge that the daughter he is raising bears no biological connection to him, the loss of the irreplaceable genetic future he believed he was building with his wife, and the unending question of what became of his cryopreserved sperm.”
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