A female technician at a Taichung obstetrics and gynecology clinic and the clinic’s owner, a physician, have been charged with document forgery for illegally arranging a migrant care worker to be a surrogate mother.
A probe into the administrative liabilities they are subject to according to the Artificial Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) is under way.
The technician, surnamed Wu (吳), after experiencing a miscarriage and a rupture of the uterus, asked the physician to help search for a surrogate mother in 2012.
They found an Indonesian migrant caregiver named Lisa, allegedly a “runaway” worker, to be the surrogate mother, prosecutors said.
Wu and her husband allegedly offered to remunerate Lisa, who was to live with Wu, NT$50,000 (US$1,670) per month during her pregnancy.
The physician, surnamed Hsieh (謝), transferred the embryo, created through in vitro fertilization by the couple, to Lisa in March last year, prosecutors said.
Wu then arranged for Lisa to stay with relatives in Nantou County and accompanied her to prenatal examinations, allegedly using Wu’s National Health Insurance card.
Lisa underwent two fetal reduction operations in Taipei after she was found to be carrying triplets, the prosecutors said, adding that all of the procedures were conducted with forged documents and signatures for consent to operation.
In July last year, an investigation began after a tip-off to the police, Hsieh stopped performing prenatal exams for Lisa, and Wu took her to Yunlin County.
On Nov. 28, the police searched the clinic, Wu’s residence and Wu’s relatives’ home, eventually finding Wu with a newborn in Yunlin County. It happened to be the same day Lisa gave birth to the baby, who was later confirmed by DNA testing to be the couple’s child.
The baby was taken away by the Yunlin County Department of Social Welfare.
The prosecutors said Hsieh and Wu have been charged with fraud and forgery, with the two allegedly cheating the NHI out of more than NT$4,000 with Wu’s NHI card. Lisa was repatriated to Indonesia.
Hsieh and Wu have also been held liable to violations of the Artificial Reproduction Act, which health authorities are still investigating.
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