An identical twin who was raised as a singleton by the wrong family is suing the diapers off the maternity hospital and city where she was born more than 30 years ago. Her biological sister, and the girl raised in her place, are doing the same.
It's sad that switched-at-birth stories aren't all that uncommon. Here's the kicker in this story: it was only by accident that they all found out about the mix-up.
The actual twins, who were born in Spain, reunited in 2001, after the one raised by non-biological parents was mistaken for her unknown identical twin at a clothing shop. A shop clerk was friends with the other twin and was dumbfounded when the unknown twin didn't recognize her. The twin came in a second time and that time the shopkeeper arranged for the two to meet. The rest unraveled from there.
All three of the girls are devastated by the discovery, the twin raised by another family the most, according to her lawyer. She's suing for $4.7 million. The others are also filing suits.
The hospital says the switch is the result of too many babies and too few nurses. From Reuters:
"In 1973 there were two assistants and one supervisor for 60 babies,"
Densi Calero, who worked in the maternity unit of the clinic at the
time, told local radio. "It's not impossible to imagine something like
this could happen."
Photo: ABCNews.com
