Wednesday, July 22, 2009

70 million won for baby-swapping mistake

I don't know how I would possibly handle something like this. A mother in Kuri discovered that her sixteen-year-old daughter couldn't possibly be her biological child based on hers and her husband's blood type. The daughter is type-A but the parents are both type-B. 

It turns out that, back in 1992, a nurse in the hospital had accidentally switched the babies. A court has recently ordered the hospital to pay the family 70 million won (about $56,000) for mental suffering. According to the BBC, the court has refused a request for the mother to see the other daughter's records — those of her biological daughter — out of privacy concerns. This is still being sorted out.

What a Hobson's choice facing both families: The daughter you raised is still your daughter, and to reject her for your biological daughter is cruel abandonment. Yet how do you just ignore your own flesh and blood? It would take the most patient and wisest of parents to find a way to jointly be involved in both girls' lives, but sadly such parents are often in short supply.

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