The Region - News from June 26, 1986

A baby born June 4 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles was the second--not the first--infant in the United States to begin life as a frozen embryo, an India-born couple in Fort Myers, Fla., claims. Dr. Bipin Shah and his wife, Ketki, told the Fort Myers News-Press that their daughter, born Oct. 5, was actually the first, but they did not say anything about it at the time. They offered documentation, plus a statement from the Dutch-born embryologist who handled their case. A spokeswoman for Good Samaritan said she did not doubt their word, but the baby born there was still the first U.S. baby, because, while the Shahs child was born in Florida, the in-vitro fertilization and implantation took place in Great Britain.