Two families were left devastated after a home DNA test revealed their daughters had been switched at birth, in the first documented case of its kind in the history of the NHS.
The “egregious mistake”, which has caused unspeakable emotional turmoil among those involved, meant that the two newborns, now grown women, were raised in the wrong families for five decades and learned the truth only by accident.
The women, now aged 57, were born within hours of each other at the same West Midlands hospital in 1967, and the mistake is thought to have been caused by staff inadvertently giving the babies identification tags. incorrect.
Both grew up unaware of their biological origins until two years ago, when the older brother of one of the women took a DNA test on the genealogy website Ancestry, which allows users to learn their family history.
To his surprise, an analysis of his genetic makeup revealed a match with a woman whose DNA was so closely related that she could only be a full brother.
The women, now aged 57, were born within hours of each other in the same West Midlands hospital in 1967. (Archive photograph of a maternity ward in 1967)
Both grew up without knowing anything about their biological origins until two years ago, when the older brother of one of the women took a DNA test (file photo).
When they discovered that she had been born in the same hospital just hours after the woman he believed was his biological younger sister, they realized that “the only explanation” was that the babies had been swapped.
The Trust involved has admitted responsibility for the error and the NHS will pay an as yet undisclosed amount of compensation to both families.
The shocking case emerged in an episode of the BBC podcast The Gift, which investigates family secrets arising from the results of at-home DNA tests.
In it, Joan, an 83-year-old widow and mother of one of the women, describes meeting her biological daughter, Claire, for the first time, and the agony of telling Jessica, the daughter she believed was hers, what had happened to her. had passed the test. revealed. The names of both women have been changed.
“It just felt good,” Joan said of meeting Claire. ‘We hugged each other. I thought, ‘She looks just like I did in my youth.’
I felt immediately connected to her. It was extraordinary. I feel like I’ve gained a daughter.’
But it also revealed the anguish the bomb has caused the family, especially Jessica.
“Jessica has taken it pretty badly,” he said. ‘She’s not talking to me now. It’s still hard to take it all in, especially at my age. I feel like I’ve wasted time, I’ve wasted a lot of my life now. I’ve wasted time with Claire.
The Trust involved has admitted responsibility for the error and the NHS will pay an as yet undisclosed amount of compensation to both families (file photo)
Although there are no other known cases of baby swapping, human error is much less likely today (file photo)
Joan already had three children (and had given birth to two stillborn daughters) when she finally had a healthy baby girl in 1967. As was common at the time, the baby was taken to daycare overnight so Joan could sleep.
When it was returned the next morning, he checked that the name tag was correct. In those days, babies were given labels and handwritten paper cards in their cribs.
Although there are no other known cases of baby swapping, human error is much less likely to occur today. Since the 1980s, newborns and mothers have been given matching tags after the baby is born that contain a unique identification code. And since the mid-1990s, babies have been given trackable radio frequency identification tags.
While mistakes do happen, they tend to involve mixed twins or a baby being taken to the wrong mother in a ward, and all are corrected before families take their babies home.
In Joan’s case, there was no reason to suspect anything untoward until her eldest son, Tony, now 67, was given a DNA test for Christmas 2021.
He got tested and sent a saliva sample two months later. The results were uploaded to Ancestry’s global database, which can “match” related users based on the amount of DNA they share. Typically, full siblings share about 50 percent of their genetics.
Tony’s results linked him to Claire, whom he had never met and who also took a DNA test. The database claimed she was his sister based on shared genetic information.
He contacted Claire using the site’s private messaging service, assuming it must be a mistake.
The hospital trust that made the mistake, which was not identified, admitted full responsibility for the incident (file photo)
Claire said the explanation had “answered a lot of questions” in her life as she had “always felt like an outsider” in her own family (file photo).
Tony told the podcast: ‘Claire responded immediately, giving her date of birth and the hospital she was born in. It was obvious what had happened. It was the same as my sister Jessica. It’s clear the babies were swapped.
Claire said the explanation had “answered a lot of questions” in her life, as she had “always felt like an outsider” in her own family.
But for Joan, the revelations were distressing. ‘I had endured the loss of two stillborn daughters. When I have a girl, it’s the wrong one. “I wanted to know if I had had a good life, if I was happy, if I was okay,” he said.
Tony invited Claire to join them at the family home, where she forged an “immediate” bond with Joan, whom he now calls “Mom.”
“We just hugged each other and sobbed,” Claire said.
‘And I looked (at Joan) and said, ‘Oh my God, I have your eyes.’ We have the same eyes. My God, I look like someone.
“It was so strange, like we had always known each other.”
In a tragic twist, Claire revealed that, in contrast to the supportive upbringing she should have had, her childhood was difficult.
Her parents divorced when she was two years old and she grew up poor, homeless and hungry. Claire also has two children and three grandchildren who have been welcomed into the family.
But for Jessica, who declined to be interviewed for the podcast, the revelations have been harder to handle. Her biological mother, who had raised Claire, died earlier this year after refusing to accept that Jessica could be her daughter.
It has also left Jessica estranged from the only family she has ever known.
“No matter how much we’ve said, nothing has changed,” Joan said. ‘Jessica’s response was always, ‘Everything has changed.’ She is still my daughter and always will be.
The Hospital Trust that made the mistake, which was not named, admitted full responsibility for the incident. You can’t shed more light on the error because you no longer have records going back to that time.
NHS Resolution, which handles legal claims against the health service, apologized to the families, described it as a “unique and complex case” and said it was working to establish how much compensation would be paid.
The Gift: Switched will air on BBC Radio 4 at 9.30am on Wednesday and is available to listen to on BBC Sounds now.