Two families have filed a lawsuit against a North Dakota hospital, claiming staff members accidentally sent two newborn boys home with the wrong parents more than 36 years ago.
According to the lawsuit cited by KVLY, Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison were the only babies delivered at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, on Jan. 26, 1988.
The legal complaint names Christian Unity Hospital Corporation, which operates as Unity Medical Center, as the defendant.
The plaintiffs allege that hospital employees mixed up the infants after birth and discharged each baby to the other child’s biological parents, the outlet reported.
As a result, the lawsuit claims, both men grew up in families that were not biologically theirs, with no one realizing the alleged mistake at the time.
The complaint says the apparent baby switch remained undiscovered for more than three decades.
Morrison, who now lives in Colorado, said the truth began to surface two years ago after he took a DNA test and learned the people who raised him were not his biological parents. He told KKTV that after his aunt submitted DNA, Bylin appeared as her nephew — a result Morrison said stood out because he has no cousins.
Speaking with the outlet, Morrison said he had long felt as though he did not quite fit in with the family that raised him.
“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.
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 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.”
“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,” the statement continued
“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.
“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.”
