this is nightline. tonight. switched before birth. >> we were just kind of numb and shocked. >> a medical mix up that seems impossible. >> this other family did, in fact, give birth to our genetic baby. and we did, in fact, give birth to their genetic baby. >> what happens when an ivf

clinic implants the wrong embryo? >> those are things that are life altering. >> inside the rare but real world of in-vitro mix up. and how one woman knew the second she gave birth, the baby wasn't hers. what was upsetting to you? >> that he might not be mine, and that i might not get to keep him. >> plus, chelsea, straight ahead, right here. >> there's something you didn't know about chelsea handler. >> i want lots of different lovers. >> turning 50. >> i'm really glad that i didn't get convinced by other people to have a child when i'm not cut out to be a parent. >> and reflecting on her life choices. >> what changed? i went to therapy and i found out about gratitude. >> and the game changing reprimand she got from jane fonda. >> she had a very difficult conversation with me at a time where i needed to have someone to tell me the truth. >> and attention. all seniors. >> the so-called world's best boss, steve carell's surprise announcement on x to l.a. high school seniors heading to prom. >> it's a pretty good

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i mean, i know how the fire affected me, and there's always a constant fear that who's to say something like that won't happen again? that's fair. we committed to underground, 10,000 miles of electric line. you look back at where we were 10 years ago and we are in a completely different place today, and it's because of how we need to care for our communities and our customers. i hope that's true. [joe] that's my commitment. [ambient noise] >> thanks for joining us tonight. imagine, after years of infertility, you enlist the help of ivf, spend nine months pregnant, and arrive at the hospital expecting to celebrate the joyous birth of your child, only to discover your new baby isn't genetically yours at all. meet the families who lived

through just that. your birth announcement? >> yes. >> like any new mom, christina murray documented every exciting moment of her pregnancy. she'd always dreamed of motherhood. what made you decide to go with ivf? >> i was a single woman, and i spent years trying to find the perfect person. and the older i got, the more i realized i was more interested in being a mother. before i got any older than i was in pursuing a person. >> to afford ivf. she worked two and a half jobs and says she nearly depleted her life savings. what was it like to discover you were pregnant? >> it was the dream, right? until you actually, like, see the little flutter on the monitor and hear it? i think that's when you finally realize, oh, no, this is real. like i am actually pregnant.

>> she said she'd chosen a sperm donor with features similar to hers. dirty blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin. but in the delivery room, that feeling of euphoria shattered moments after the baby boy was born. >> my first thought was he's absolutely beautiful. he was gorgeous. and my second thought was, what happened? you knew? i knew immediately he is african-american, so it was very evident from the second they held him up that something didn't go to plan. so my first thought was, was it the embryo or was it the sperm? >> it's not that you were upset that he was african-american. >> no. never once. not once. >> what was upsetting to you? >> that he might not be mine. and that i might not get to keep him. >> christina's story, though shocking, is not the first time an incident like this has happened. >> there is no doubt in my mind that this happens far more than we know about. >> if you have solid protocols and proper training, mistakes should be very rare.

>> in vitro fertilization or ivf a game changer for so many families. how common is it for people to struggle with fertility? >> it's extremely common. 1 in 6 couples will have an infertility diagnosis. >> what happens if there is a human mistake. >> in an environment where you do a lot of these procedures and you do them well, and you adhere to the standard protocols? i think that this is an extremely, extremely rare and unfortunate event, but it's not something that most fertility doctors are going to see in their career or lifetime. >> you need a little bit more, and then we're gonna go. >> daphna and alexander cardinale have been in cristina's shoes. they turned to ivf. daphna gave birth to a baby girl who will call may, and though she didn't resemble her older sister at first, the couple didn't think much of it. >> both of us just kind of were

like, oh, like genetics are what they are and they're weird. >> and but i was born with black hair, so i was like, oh, this one takes after me. >> daphna continued to ignore it, but alexander says he couldn't seem to get those seeds of doubt out of his mind, especially when others pointed out that their baby appeared to be asian. >> i can't stress enough how much love creates the most powerful form of denial. >> to ease their concerns, they decided to take a dna test. >> it's 99.9% accurate that you're not the father. and then. and then she asked me to read the results for the mother. and then it was 99.9%. but yeah, it's earth shattering. >> the clinic told them their embryo had been switched with another couple's who'd given birth to alexander and daphne's biological daughter named zoe. even more shocking, the two families lived just miles apart. >> oh my god.

>> daphna and alexander distinctly remember the moment they came face to face with their biological daughter, zoe. for the first time. >> she was in her car seat. >> and they handed her to you. >> oh my god. hello. >> for me, it was looking into her eyes when i like. that's when it became real. when i lifted her up and felt her weight and looked directly into her eyes. >> how are you so blue eyed, bubba? >> she had my family's eyes it. and it was really emotional because she was already four months old. >> that's that's crazy. i missed i missed the little squishy, the newborn little squishy. >> newborn phase of zoe. >> i missed the pregnancy with that one. >> that's a full year. that's what she says all the time. >> finally, they made an

agonizing decision. they would switch their four month old babies. >> don't jump on. >> zoe and mae are now five years old. the families have stayed close. >> who's excited for christmas eve? that's from me and mommy d. >> yeah. >> we got so lucky. >> the new normal happened at some point. there was a day where we became family. >> the cardinals sued their fertility clinic and ultimately settled privately. >> i think that this. >> would absolutely. >> never would have gotten caught if they weren't so distinctly from different races. >> yeah. >> yeah, 100%, 100%. >> fertility clinics undertake in great, vitally important work. but with that important work comes a tremendous responsibility. >> adam wolfe represented both christina and the cardinals. he says his firm has also represented more than a thousand other people in lawsuits against fertility clinics. >> whether it is dropping eggs or embryos on the ground or

mixing the wrong sperm with the egg, or switching embryos from couple a to couple b, those are things that are life altering. >> at the crux of the issue, critics say, is a need for more regulation for tracking and better enforcement in the event of error. >> there's no centralized database when things go wrong, or providers operate in a way that fails to abide by professional standards. >> the american society for reproductive medicine says that ivf is among the most heavily regulated medical procedures in the united states, and that medical providers have an ethical duty to disclose clinically significant errors. the organization offers guidelines for fertility clinics across the country, ranging from their lab standards to recommended protocols for things like embryo transfers and genetic testing. >> these are just recommendations. they're not enforced in any meaningful way. >> christina, like the

cardinals, also got a dna test that changed everything. >> it literally said there was 0% chance of maternity. >> after alerting the clinic, she used coastal fertility specialists. she would ultimately learn the baby's biological parents were living in. >> a. >> wanted full custody of their son. after raising him for the first five months of his life, she gave up the only son she'd ever known. >> i was his whole world, and you walk in the courtroom a mom and your whole life in your arms, and you walk out with quite literally. i can distinctly remember walking out with an empty stroller, pushing an empty stroller back to my car. >> christina has now filed a lawsuit against coastal fertility specialists. >> i wanted people to realize that this isn't just that might happen or that could happen. this is something that does happen. >> coastal fertility specialists telling impact their practice deeply regrets the distress

caused by an extremely rare human error, and extend our sincerest apologies, adding this incident does not reflect the high standards we have upheld for 15 years and no other patients were affected. they also told us that same day we added additional human witnessing in our lab. we have since implemented a state of the art digital witnessing system, which electronically verifies patient samples in real time using advanced scanning technology. we reached out to the lawyer for the clinic, and they responded that it's not their practice to comment on active litigation. coastal fertility told impact that all of christina's embryos are accounted for, and now she's actually restarted the ivf process, this time with a different clinic. >> i decided the situation has taken a lot for me, and it doesn't get to take that. it doesn't get to take my desire and my ability to be a mother.

>> for more on this story, watch impact by nightline. switched before birth, now streaming on hulu. when we come back. then. >> as a last ditch effort, he goes, i have drugs. i said, you better. >> chelsea handler, known for her outrageous comedy, now taking a slightly different path forward.

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comeuppance from a hollywood legend. here's my nightline co-anchor, byron pitts. >> he goes, let me cut the tension. my name is greg. i said, let me guess. two g's. >> chelsea. straight ahead, right here. >> chelsea handler might seem like the same woman we've seen on stage for the last 30 years, starring in her own netflix special, revolution. >> and then, as a last ditch effort, he goes, i have drugs. i said, you better. >> describing her latest drink. >> or that back end, we're going to need more vodka. >> we're skiing down the slopes in a bikini, but there's something new about her. anyone who reads this book would not be surprised about the importance of confidence that you talk about in the book, because you exude that in your public. >> life, and you have to practice being confident. you have to practice loving yourself

and respecting yourself in order to have that confidence. >> opening up to me and the world in her new book, i'll have what she's having, detailing her highs and lows in hollywood, her fiery, free wheeling personal brand, and learning to love herself along the way. >> my intention is to spread confidence. >> and kindness. >> yeah. >> were you ever arrogant? >> yes, definitely. my whole 20s. 30s? what changed? i went to therapy and i found out about gratitude. >> her journey of personal growth began in part because she got reprimanded by none other than jane fonda. >> she had a very difficult conversation with me at a time where i needed to have someone to tell me the truth. and she really modeled for me what what it means to be a sister to other women, what it means to have a difficult conversation and not shirk away from that. >> would that message have landed with you when you were 27? >> no. no. i would have been defensive and been like, no, it was his fault. or it's, you know, blame, blame, blame. >> in her new book, chelsea provides a sort of guide for her

readers. as a father of daughters, i really appreciate your book and thank you. so i want to read you some some quotes from the book. i love this line. i love many lines. leaves come and go. always be the tree. >> yes. >> that's a great line. >> i feel like a tree now, being 50 years old, i feel very solid in my footing. i don't know that i'll remain this way for the rest of my life, but it's kind of my job now to stay here. >> what with 50 year old chelsea. tell that ten year old girl in new jersey. >> you're on the right track and you're going to fall off the track many, many times. but it's about just getting back on track. it's not about the falls, it's about how you pick yourself up. >> she also reveals a part of her life that seems to contradict public perception. so there's this narrative out there that chelsea doesn't really like kids. but yet you've been this mother figure, father figure to not just your former boyfriend's kids, to your nieces and nephews, other young people. so which is it? >> well, just because i don't want kids doesn't mean i don't

like kids. i don't want one for myself. and i'm really glad that i didn't get convinced by other people to have a child when i'm not cut out to be a parent. >> while she opens up about personal struggles, she also stays true to the unabashedly single persona the public has come to know, promising me that tying the knot is not on her to do list. >> it doesn't work for me. it's just not interesting to me. like, i don't i don't want to be with someone all the time. i'd like to bounce around and i like variety, and i'm not afraid to say it anymore because there's nothing to be shameful about. i want lots of different lovers. >> you said you thought about moving to canada. >> yes. >> trump won reelection in 2020. he's now back in office. >> i have a house in canada. >> are you thinking about living there full time? >> i mean, i don't want to just bail on the place that i'm from just because i have the ability to do so. i want to be somebody who stands up for other people. >> as someone who does social commentary, who does comedy, donald trump in the white house for you, is that opportunity or

is that challenge? >> no. it's personally sad. i just feel sad to me. >> chelsea not shying away from the medicinal side of her life either. >> wherever i land, cannabis arrives. i once put what i thought was protein powder in a smoothie and it turned out to be molly. >> so what is it with you and substances? >> freedom. i like freedom, i like experiences, i like different perspectives. i think like fun psychedelic drugs, especially microdosing them, is a great way to think outside of your head, to be more open hearted, to be kinder. >> when i think about substance use, it's not order. it's being out of control. >> well, i'm like type a until about 11 a.m. in the morning, and once i get all my stuff done, i turn into type z. >> please welcome. >> chelsea handler. >> handler needing no substance to deliver her biting comedy like the critics choice awards. >> so it is important in times like these to have a distraction. and that's why i

want to personally extend my gratitude to justin baldoni and blake lively. >> walk me through that. do you get on the stage and kind of read the room and decide, i'm going to drop this, or is it it's i'm planning to say it. i'm going to say it no matter what. >> no, that was written. i wrote that myself because. >> but do you but do you like, edit that on stage? you think? >> no. >> read the room. >> i think when you have a monologue, once you put a monologue together for a show like that, you have to commit to your material. you got to go for it. you have to. and it's such a big, crazy, messy news story. i mean, i had to say something. >> next, she says she might even try her hand at acting. well, of course, making us laugh. what is the one thing in life you know for sure, for which you have no doubt. >> that we will never know what the fck is going on here. there are no answers. you really have to live your life and be true to who you are. there's no time to waste being insecure and you just have to go and like, really

get after life. >> our thanks to byron chelsea handler's book i'll have what she's having is out now. and when we come back, steve carell giving la high school seniors affected by the wildfires affected by the wildfires something can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya... with rapid relief at 4 weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation. at one year, many people experienced remission... and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. healing is possible with tremfya. ask your doctor about tremfya today. ♪

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>> finally tonight. but will he chaperon? >> attention all seniors. >> steve carell with a message on x to high schoolers affected by the l.a. wildfires, saying the charity alice's kids wants to make sure they all make it to prom. >> they will be paying for all of your prom tickets. >> the video also playing in schools to about 800 seniors in greater l.a, which was ravaged by wildfires earlier this year. >> have fun. enjoy the prom. >> and that's nightline. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here. same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night. america. >> abc's david muir. the most watched newscast in america. more americans