switched at birth

19 Stories

2 Families Learn They're Raising Each Other's Babies

Devastating mix-up leads to 'happiest ending possible'

(Newser) - After their babies were born in 2019, two Southern California families occasionally wondered about what little resemblance the newborns had to their parents. Then, when the infants were just a few months old, they learned why: The fertility clinic where both had undergone IVF somehow mixed up their embryos, and...

Switched at Birth in 1955, 2 Men Finally Get Their Apology

They had their identities 'stripped away,' says lawyer pursuing financial compensation

(Newser) - Imagine learning in your golden years that your family isn't your family. Given a DNA test in 2022, Richard Beauvais discovered he wasn't Indigenous like his parents but had a mix of Ukrainian, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Polish ancestry—and yet, he wasn't adopted. Beauvais soon learned he...

Shocking Find for 2 Seniors: 'My Whole Past Is Gone'

Canadian men discover they were switched at birth, now wish they'd never found out

(Newser) - Two Canadian seniors were born 67 years ago in the same small rural hospital in Arborg, Manitoba, and those babies left the maternity ward with different families, their paths seemingly destined to never cross again. Now, Richard Beauvais, a commercial fisherman in British Columbia, and Eddy Ambrose, a retired upholsterer...

DNA Tests Reveal Women Were Switched at Birth in 1964

'You know, you find out some interesting things on Ancestry'

(Newser) - Two 57-year-old women in Oklahoma are trying to deal with the disturbing discovery that they are not who they thought they were. Tinna Ennis and Jill Lopez discovered they had apparently been switched at birth after Ennis' 26-year-old daughter asked her to take a DNA test in the hope of...

Embryos Switched, 2 Women Give Birth to the Wrong Babies

The infants were swapped months later

(Newser) - Two California couples gave birth to each others' babies after a mix-up at a fertility clinic and spent months raising children that weren't theirs before swapping the infants, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles. Daphna Cardinale said she and her husband, Alexander, had immediate suspicions that...

80-Year-Old Men Believe They Were Switched at Birth, Sue

John William Carr III, Jackie Lee Spencer sue diocese that ran the hospital

(Newser) - Two men who believe they were switched at birth nearly 80 years ago are suing a Roman Catholic diocese in West Virginia, alleging negligence and breach of duty by the hospital where they were born. John William Carr III and Jackie Lee Spencer were born Aug. 29, 1942, at St....

A Search for Ancestors Reveals She Had Been Swapped at Birth

Women discover they were switched at birth

(Newser) - A fun foray into finding out more about her ancestry through a popular genealogy website led to a shocking revelation for 72-year-old Denice Juneski: She wasn't related to any of her own relatives—at least not the ones she'd grown up knowing. KARE reports that as Minnesota's...

Did Someone at Hospital Switch Multiple Babies on Purpose?

Police launch investigation into two 41-year-old cases at Canadian hospital

(Newser) - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating after revelations that two different sets of babies—at least—were switched at birth at the same hospital 41 years ago, the AP reports. "The RCMP has an obligation to the families involved and to the public to determine if the incidents...

2nd Switched-at-Birth Case Found in Same Hospital

Canadian men discovered the truth after 41 years

(Newser) - Two 41-year-old men in Manitoba, Canada, have been devastated to discover that they were raised by the wrong families after having been switched at birth by a hospital that mixed up at least two other babies the same year. Leon Swanson and David Tait Jr. were born three days apart...

Baby Switched at Birth Is Finally Home

Family returns to the US from El Salvador

(Newser) - A year after traveling to El Salvador so Mercedes Casanella could give birth in her home country, Casanella and her husband Richard Cushworth are back home in Texas to stay—with the right baby. The couple initially returned to the US after the birth, only to discover, after getting suspicious...

Childhood Friends Discover They Were Switched at Birth

DNA test confirms decades of rumors and jokes

(Newser) - Two childhood friends made a startling discovery that has changed everything they thought they knew about themselves and their families: They were switched at birth. The CBC reports Luke Monias and Norman Barkman were born on the same June day in 1975 at the Norway House Indian Hospital in Manitoba....

Mom Who Thought Hospital Gave Her Wrong Baby Was Right

Boys handed over to real parents in El Salvador, 4 months after birth

(Newser) - Two infants are back in the hands of their parents four months after authorities say they were switched at birth. Richard Cushworth and Mercedes Casanella of Dallas, Texas, visited El Salvador to give birth to their child in Casanella's home country in May. But Cushworth says the happy occasion...

Mom Meets Daughter She Was Told Died 50 Years Ago

76-year-old Zella Jackson Price says Melanie Gilmore was taken right after birth

(Newser) - On November 25, 1965, Zella Jackson Price gave birth to a baby girl at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, her granddaughter says. What allegedly happened in the hours after that is both confusing and dreadful: Price, a gospel singer, says she was told by a nurse the baby...

Babies Switched at Birth in 1994 Awarded $2M

Each girl gets $450K, families get the rest

(Newser) - The families of two girls switched at birth in 1994 have been awarded damages—though not nearly as much as they sought. Sophie Serrano's daughter was switched with another infant when both little girls were placed in an incubator at a French hospital shortly after birth. The families discovered...

Families Sue Over Girls Switched at Birth—in 1994

The swap was confirmed a decade ago

(Newser) - In July 1994, Sophie Serrano's newborn was put in a hospital incubator as part of the infant's treatment for jaundice. Baby Manon wasn't alone: A second baby girl suffering from jaundice shared the incubator. When the French girls were removed, they were accidentally switched by a nurse...

Inside the Battle Over Girls, 4, Switched at Birth
Inside the Battle Over
Girls, 4, Switched at Birth
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 30, 2014 10:26 AM CST

Inside the Battle Over Girls, 4, Switched at Birth

In latest development, court-appointed expert says not to switch them back

(Newser) - On a day in 2010, two South African mothers each gave birth to a girl at a Johannesburg-area hospital—but they unknowingly took the other's child home after nurses mistakenly switched them. The error came to light last year, when one of the mothers sued her former partner for...

Guy Switched at Birth Gets $317K to Make Up for It

He was born to rich family, but ended up raised in poverty

(Newser) - Imagine it: You're raised in a tiny apartment by a single mom and grow up to be a truck driver ... only to find out you were actually born to a wealthy family and accidentally switched at birth, and the baby raised in your place grew up to be the...

2 New Moms Sent Home With Wrong Babies

Women in Argentina figured it out themselves after 3 weeks

(Newser) - Two new mothers in Argentina would still be caring for the wrong infants if they hadn't acted on their suspicions. As it was, they took home the wrong babies and cared for them for three weeks thanks to a clinic mixup, reports AFP . The women gave birth on Sept....

Women, 56, Discover They Were Switched at Birth

'Swisters' become friends after Oregon hospital's mix-up revealed

(Newser) - Two women's lives have been turned upside down since they discovered they were switched at birth 56 years ago, the East Oregonian reports. Kay Qualls and DeeAnn Shafer—whose parents are now deceased—decided to go for DNA testing last summer after an elderly former neighbor contacted one of the...

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