Baby girls switched at birth swapped back after four years

By Le Hoang June 24, 2016 | 06:53 am PT

Two couples gave birth at Thanh Hoa Obstetrics Hospital in central Vietnam on the same day four years ago, but have just found out their “current” daughters were switched due to a mistake made by hospital staff.

After giving birth in Thanh Hoa on October 2012, one of the two couples moved to Da Nang.

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Thanh Hoa Obstetrics Hospital where two baby girls were given to the wrong parents four years ago. Photo: VnExpress/Le Hoang

Four years later, the couple in Da Nang started to doubt whether their daughter was actually theirs as she looked nothing like either of them. They decided to get a DNA test to settle the matter, and sure enough, the results confirmed their suspicions.

They traveled back to the hospital in Thanh Hoa early this month with the child, and after looking up all the baby girls born on the same day, and at the hospital’s documents and DNA samples, they found their real daughter. After meeting with the other family, the couples agreed to swap their daughters.

The two girls have not shown any adverse psychological signs since the switch.

A hospital spokesperson told VnExpress that medical staff had mistakenly switched the babies four years ago.

It is negotiating compensation for the couples to make up for the mistake, but the person responsible has yet to be identified. The provincial health department has launched an investigation into the case.