Two families are taking legal action against a hospital in North Dakota, alleging that staff mistakenly swapped their newborns during delivery over 36 years ago.
Kyle Billin and Jeremy Morrison became the only two babies born at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, on January 26, 1988, as noted in the lawsuit. The hospital, operating under the name Christian Unity Hospital Corporation, is named as a defendant.
The families claim that the hospital gave one baby to the wrong parents, leading to both children being raised by families unaware of the mix-up. According to the lawsuit, the switch went undetected for over three decades.
In a twist, two years ago, Morrison, who is now in Colorado, took a DNA test and discovered that the people he’d thought were his parents were not biologically related to him. He mentioned that his aunt provided DNA which ultimately matched him with Kyle Billin. Morrison expressed that he always felt somewhat out of place growing up, stating, “There was no one in my family who looked like me.” He was the only blond-haired child in a family with predominantly brown-haired relatives.
Morrison reflected on what could have been, saying, “If I had gone home with the right parents, I definitely wouldn’t be here in Colorado today. I would have worked on the farm with my brother, but I didn’t know it.” While both families have met their biological children, the two men have yet to meet each other.
The hospital has denied the allegations and is seeking the dismissal of the lawsuit. Unity Medical Center’s attorneys maintain that staff acted with an appropriate level of care and diligence during the births. They also cited the long time frame between the purported incident and the filing of the lawsuit as a potential barrier due to the statute of limitations.
The plaintiffs are requesting over $50,000 in damages and a jury trial, while the hospital has presented a defense suggesting that other parties might share responsibility for any damages that occurred. They too have requested a jury trial.
In a statement, Unity Medical Center acknowledged the unusual circumstances and expressed concern for the families affected. However, they added that, since nearly 40 years have passed, relevant medical and staffing records have likely been lost and that the staff involved are no longer with the hospital. The center emphasized that they found no evidence to support the claims against them.
