Two families have filed a lawsuit against a North Dakota hospital, claiming staff members accidentally switched two newborn boys more than 36 years ago.
Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison were reportedly the only babies delivered at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, on Jan. 26, 1988, according to the lawsuit cited by KVLY. The complaint names Christian Unity Hospital Corporation, which operates as Unity Medical Center, as the defendant.
In the filing, the plaintiffs allege that hospital employees mixed up the infants and discharged each boy to the other child’s biological parents, KVLY reported. As a result, the men were allegedly raised by one another’s birth families without anyone realizing what had happened.
According to the lawsuit, the alleged birth switch remained undiscovered for more than three decades.
Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison were the only two babies born at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, on Jan. 26, 1988, according to the lawsuit. (Google Maps)
The case began to unravel two years ago, when Morrison, who now lives in Colorado, took a DNA test and discovered that the parents who raised him were not his biological parents. He told KKTV that after his aunt submitted DNA, Bylin appeared as a match to her nephew. Morrison said he has no cousins.
Morrison also told the station that he had long sensed he did not quite resemble the family in which he grew up.
“I didn’t have anyone that looked like me in my family,” Morrison said. “I was that blonde-haired kid that stood out in a family full of brown-haired people.”
“I know I definitely wouldn’t be here in Colorado today if I went home with the right parents,” he said. “I would have been working the farm with my older brother that I never knew I had.”
Both sets of parents have met their biological sons, but the two men have not met each other, according to KKTV.
The lawsuit says the switch was not discovered for more than 36 years. (Google Maps)
Unity Medical Center denied the allegations and asked the court to dismiss the case with prejudice.
Attorneys for the hospital argued that its staff “possessed and exercised the appropriate degree of skill and learning” and “at all times used reasonable care, judgment, and diligence,” according to KVLY.
The hospital also claims the lawsuit may be prohibited by the statute of limitations, pointing to “the length of time that has passed between the alleged incident and the service of this lawsuit.”
The plaintiffs are seeking more than $50,000 in damages and have asked for a jury trial.
The hospital also raised comparative fault as a defense, arguing that damages, if any, could be attributable to parties other than the hospital.
The hospital has also demanded a jury trial.
Unity Medical Center denied the allegations. (Getty Images)
Unity Medical Center said in a statement to KKTV that it is “currently working to better understand a highly unusual situation involving two men who apparently were separated from their biological parents at some point during their lives,” adding: “Both men were born at our hospital on the same day in 1988, and we recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families.”
“Unfortunately, because of the passage of nearly four decades, the medical and staffing records that might have provided additional clarity no longer exist, and no members of the delivery team from that time are still employed by the hospital,” the statement continued. “While we deeply sympathize with the men and their families, we have found no evidence to support claims that Unity Medical Center or its staff were responsible for what occurred.”
