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Now, an attorney representing Shea’s biological parents – who were only referred to as Patient 004 in court documents – has shared an update on how the pair are coping.
Lawyer Rob Marcereau said the couple have been left ‘heartbroken’ by the embryo mix-up, but ‘also understand that the birth couple are also suffering’.
He told NBC News: “They had to make the heartbreaking decision to not fight for custody.”
Marcereau said although they would have preferred to be Shea’s primary caregivers, the duo realised it ‘would have been an incredibly uphill legal battle’.
“And they just didn’t feel that that was going to be what was in the best interest of Shea,” he added.
The attorney said both couples shared ‘a lot of tears and hugs’ on the several occasions that they met.
Both couples have been left heartbroken by the IVF scandal (Getty Stock Image)
A lawyer representing Score and Mills, Mara Hatfield, said that genetic testing revealed that the baby was 100 percent South Asian.
She explained that the couple have ‘begun and intend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust’ with Shea’s biological parents.
The Fertility Center of Orlando has closed its doors since news of the scandal broke.
Marcereau said that the biological parents of Shea also intend to launch a lawsuit for the ‘inexcusable’ error made by the clinic.
“They have been placed in such a difficult situation that no one should be placed in, and the decision they have been forced to make has just been agonising,” he said.
IVF Life, which operates as The Fertility Center of Orlando, previously stated that they were ‘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.’