Hospital screwup leads to swapped babies, expose horrible parents

[Alonzo]

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two Chinese families are suing a hospital 15 years after they took home the wrong newborn babies, state media reported Tuesday.

A couple surnamed Lu, who gave birth at a hospital in Nanning in the southern province of Guangxi in 1991, suspected that the boy was not her biological son after a test in 2004 showed their blood types were incompatible, Xinhua news agency said.

After further testing confirmed the boy was not biologically related, the couple acquired a register of babies born on the same day as their son from the hospital, Xinhua said.

"It was confirmed that a boy raised by a woman surnamed Liu who had given birth to a son on the same day was actually theirs, and that the boy they had raised was the son of Liu and a man surnamed Yao," Xinhua said.

Liu and Yao told the court that as their "son" grew older, his appearance and personality were so different to their own as "to make people point," and eventually lead to their divorce.

Both couples blamed hospital "mismanagement in the process of providing treatment" and staff negligence for the mix-up.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061107/od_nm/china_babies_dc

[lily]

Well, it is good to know that this is not the only country that it happens in!

Liu and Yao told the court that as their "son" grew older, his appearance and personality were so different to their own as "to make people point," and eventually lead to their divorce.

I have to comment on this. I realize that countries do not make a difference in how a child developes, but family does. My great-neice (damn that makes me look old) was born in China and I don't know if it was the dilligence the adoption agencies took in trying to match the child to the family, or the parenting, but she is so much like her oldest brother, it is eerrie.

[Professor]

Liu and Yao told the court that as their "son" grew older, his appearance and personality were so different to their own as "to make people point," and eventually lead to their divorce.


What? Because your kid looks different you get a divorce? How does that make the child feel? The parents can't say that about their marriage. They can say it stressed it, but ultimately it's their job to keep it together no matter what, even if they do have someone odd looking for a child.

[lily]

Professor, just reading in-between the lines, but when I read that their marriage was so stressed that they got a divorce, the first thing that came to mind was the husband accused the wife of having an affair. It would explain in his mind why the child looked so different.

[wonder cow]

expose horrible parents

how are they horrible?

Maybe because of the way this must have made the kids feel?

[Professor]

Professor, just reading in-between the lines, but when I read that their marriage was so stressed that they got a divorce, the first thing that came to mind was the husband accused the wife of having an affair. It would explain in his mind why the child looked so different.


I never even thought of that one. That's probably what happened.