Black Couple Is Given Twin From Switched-Embryo Case

NEW YORK - A black baby born to a white couple because of a fertility clinic mix-up has been handed over to his genetic parents.

The baby, born Dec. 29 to Donna and Richard Fasano of New York, was given to Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers of Teaneck, N.J., on May 10 during a visit to the Fasano home. The baby is named Joseph.

A lawyer for the Fasanos, David Cohen, said the custody exchange was "very emotional, very strained, very difficult. This woman (Donna Fasano) had carried the baby to term, and had cared for him for four months."

The custody change came to light in papers filed in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where the Rogerses asked for declarations that they are the infant's parents and that they have permanent custody of him.

Donna Fasano, 37, also gave birth to a white boy - Joseph's fraternal twin - who is genetically hers and her husband's. The Fasanos have said they wanted the boys to grow up knowing each other as brothers.

Perry-Rogers, 33, is a nurse; her husband, 35, is a teacher. Both the Fasanos work in finance.

The mistake during embryo implantation happened at the Manhattan fertility clinic of Dr. Lillian Nash. Donna Fasano and Perry-Rogers had stored fertilized eggs at the clinic, and both visited on April 24, 1998, for embryo implantation.

Nash's associate, Dr. Michael Obasaju, has admitted that he mistakenly put some of Perry-Rogers' embryos into a catheter used to implant Donna Fasano's embryos, a state Health Department report says.

The Fasanos and the Rogerses have sued Nash and Obasaju.