A MOTHER desperate to have a second child has told how she lost her last IVF embryo when the NHS implanted it into the wrong patient.
When the other woman found out that the embryo was not hers, she aborted it.
Details of the blunder raise fresh questions about the way IVF clinics are regulated.
The Sunday Times has previously revealed that women undergoing fertility treatment have had their eggs fertilised with the wrong sperm.
Deborah, the woman who lost her chance of another baby, is so traumatised by the error that she is reluctant to risk further IVF to have a longed-for sibling for her son, Jamie, 6.
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Because Deborah is 40 her prospects of having another child with her boyfriend, Paul, 38, are slim and diminishing.
Deborah, who does not want to disclose her surname, said: "I will never forget the moment the hospital broke the news to us. Initially, the hospital told me there had been an accident in the lab and that the embryo had been damaged. I thought that someone had, perhaps, dropped the embryo dish.
"I remember thinking: 'That's our last hope gone - we will never have another child.' I left the hospital feeling totally shell-shocked.
"When we went back to the hospital two days later and we were told the truth about my embryo being given to someone else I was so angry."
Deborah, a healthcare worker, and Paul, who have been together for 17 years, went on the NHS waiting list for fertility treatment in 1996. After two failed attempts, Jamie was born on the third cycle in 2003.
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Three of the couple's remaining embryos were frozen and they tried for another child with the only embryo to survive the freezing process at the IVF Wales fertility clinic, University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff in December 2007.
The causes of the blunder remained secret until the couple instructed lawyers to obtain reports into the incident. Documents acquired by their solicitor, Guy Forster of Irwin Mitchell, showed that, the previous year, there had been "near misses" because of problems in monitoring the ownership of embryos.
These were reported to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), but Forster says it let patients down by failing to ensure that the problems at the clinic were sorted out.
Forster said: "We are concerned that the HFEA missed opportunities to take action in relation to IVF Wales before this incident occurred.
"A report by HFEA investigators shows that the error occurred primarily due to failures by laboratory staff and theatre staff to carry out basic procedures."