Families sue North Dakota hospital after DNA reveals birth switch

Two families have sued a North Dakota hospital after DNA testing indicated two men were switched as newborns nearly four decades ago. The case matters because the families say the error deprived parents and children of decades of biological family life, while the hospital says old records needed to clarify what happened no longer exist.

Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison were the only babies born on Jan. 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, according to a lawsuit filed in state court and reported by The Associated Press. The suit says each baby left the hospital with the other’s parents.

The discovery began after Bylin took an at-home DNA test that he received through a Christmas gift exchange, according to AP. The results led him to a biological aunt on a genealogy site, and Morrison later took a DNA test that confirmed the connection, AP reported.

Bylin, who was raised as Kyle Bylin, was born Jeremy Morrison, according to the lawsuit. He told AP he still has a hospital bracelet that identified him as Kyle Bylin.

Hospital says records are gone

Unity Medical Center has not disputed that the men were switched at some point, according to AP. In a statement reported by AP, the hospital said it had found no evidence that its staff or administration caused the mistake.

The hospital said the passage of time has left it without the medical and staffing records that could have helped establish how the switch occurred. Unity also said no members of the delivery team from 1988 still work at the hospital, according to AP.

Attorney Tim O’Keefe, who represents the families, told AP he tried for a year to reach a financial settlement with the hospital before filing claims alleging negligence, medical malpractice and emotional distress.

The discovery has forced both families to reassess their histories while preserving the relationships they already had. Evelyn Newton, who raised Bylin, told AP that he remains her son, while also saying she feels she lost the chance to raise her biological child.

Morrison told AP that the DNA results did not erase his memories with the parents who raised him, Elizabeth O’Toole and Terry Morrison. He said he was loved, played sports and did well in school, while acknowledging there were difficult periods, including after his parents divorced when he was a child.

New family ties emerge

Morrison now lives in Colorado City, Colorado, and works as a welding inspector for a wind energy company, according to AP. He told AP that if the switch had not happened, he thinks he might have stayed near his biological brother and father on the North Dakota grain farm where Bylin grew up.

Newton told AP she had no reason to suspect Bylin was not her biological son while raising him with her then-husband, Keith Bylin. She said hair color differences did not raise concern because Keith had dark-haired relatives and she was adopted, leaving her with limited knowledge of her own biological family traits.

Bylin and Morrison have met their biological parents, and both described those meetings to AP as welcoming while also uncomfortable. The two men have spoken by phone but have not yet met in person, according to AP.

Dr. Jonathan Marron, a pediatric oncologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics, told AP that modern hospital systems make such errors far less likely. He said electronic health records, despite complaints from clinicians, provide a useful safeguard against baby mix-ups.

The families are now trying to build new relationships while holding the hospital legally responsible for what they say was a life-altering error. Morrison told AP that knowing the truth has not restored the years the families say they lost.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.