Leading fertility clinic Monash IVF has revealed a woman at a Brisbane clinic had another patient's embryo incorrectly transferred to her, due to "human error".
The mistake was picked up in February after the birth parents asked for their remaining embryos to be transferred elsewhere and an additional embryo was found in storage.
Monash IVF, which is based in Melbourne and has clinics around Australia, has apologised and expressed confidence it was an isolated incident.
The mix up will be deeply upsetting for other families going through IVF, Samantha Payne from the Pink Elephants Support Network said.
"There will be people who will be deeply triggered by this and they'll want some reassurance around their own experiences of fertility, around the children that they may or may not have had through IVF," Ms Payne told AAP.
About one in 18 babies are born through IVF in Australia, where there are no other known instances of a similar embryo mix-up happening.
However cases have been documented overseas.
In February, United States woman Krystena Murray launched action against her fertility clinic in Georgia after giving birth to a baby boy who was not genetically hers.
She reportedly wanted to keep the baby but gave him up after his biological parents sued for custody.
Ms Payne's network said IVF patients must be reassured that steps are taken to prevent such an incident ever happening again.
Legal experts say determining the next step is a family law matter rather than a medical issue, however all involved would likely be entitled to compensation.
Empirical bioethicist Hilary Bowman-Smart said it is important to consider the child's best interests, including their right to know about what happened, in the future.
"From an ethics perspective, I don't think we can say it's a stranger's baby," Dr Bowman-Smart said.
The birthing mother has been pregnant for nine months, she's given birth and for several months, she and her partner have been raising that baby, the bioethicist added.
"In a meaningful way, that is their baby. The problem is that, in a meaningful way, it's also these other people's baby," she said.
"It's not as simple as whose genes does the baby have?", the University of South Australia researcher said.
Monash IVF chief executive Michael Knaap said the company would continue to support the patients and has committed to implementing any recommendations from an independent investigation.
In 2024, it reached a $56 million settlement with more than 700 former patients after embryos were destroyed due to allegedly faulty genetic screening.
The class action claimed about 35 per cent of embryos found to be abnormal were normal, and while the company confirmed a settlement was reached it noted there was no admission of liability.
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