Babies switched at birth

Last updated

Babies are occasionally switched at birth or soon thereafter, leading to the babies being unknowingly raised by parents who are not their biological parents. The occurrence has historically rarely been discovered in real life, but since the availability of genealogical testing of DNA has been discovered more frequently. The phenomenon has been common as a plot device in fiction since the 18th century.

Contents

Real-world cases

Babies on a cart at Manhattan Maternity and Dispensary in 1912 Babies on a cart at Manhattan Maternity and Dispensary in 1912.jpeg
Babies on a cart at Manhattan Maternity and Dispensary in 1912

In real life, such a switch occurs rarely. [1] Since many cases of babies switched at birth are likely undocumented or unknown, the following is presumably not an exhaustive list. The below is ordered by birth year, if known.

20th century

21st century

Anti-switch techniques

Some hospitals take fingerprints, foot prints, or palm prints of newborns to prevent babies from being mixed up. Nurses also double check with the mother, checking the identity of that person as well, in order to prevent errors. [37] [38] Many hospitals also have policies in which a medical record number is assigned to an infant at birth, and bands with this number as well as the last name of the mother of the infant, the sex of the infant, and the date and time of birth are placed on the infant and the mother immediately after parturition before the mother and child are separated. A band may also be placed on the father (or other person chosen by the mother) at the time of birth.[ citation needed ]

As a literary plot device

The plot device of babies who are switched at birth, or in their cradles, has been a common one in fiction since the 18th century. It is one of the several identifiable characteristics of melodrama that are plot devices dealing with situations that are highly improbable in real life.{irrelevant sourcing material} [1]

The use of this common theme has continued ever since. The device was used a number of times by W. S. Gilbert, including in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas H.M.S. Pinafore and The Gondoliers . In both cases, well-born babies were switched with commoners. In the original version of the French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (1740) by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Beauty is a princess whose fairy aunt switched her at birth with a merchant's dead daughter to protect her from an evil fairy who had attempted to kill her and had also turned the Prince into a Beast. Mark Twain later used this plot device in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1893), where two babies, one white and one black, are switched at birth, resulting in both passing for races that they are not. [39] It is one of the themes that television films regularly exploited in the 1970s and 1980s. [40]

Possibly the most complex storyline involving the switched-at-birth plot device ran simultaneously on All My Children and One Life to Live, from March 2004 to February 2005. [41] Involved were All My Children's Bianca Montgomery and Babe Chandler, and One Life to Live's Kelly Cramer Buchanan, as well as many other characters.

In the manga/anime Kakkou no Iinazuke, Nagi Umino, whose biological parents are hotel tycoons; and Erika Amano, whose biological parents are owners of a local diner, are actually accidentally switched at birth. When they become older, their parents agree to have the two engaged. [42]

An Indian film named Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo , an employee switches his son Raj with his rich employer's son Bantu at birth. Knowing this after 25 years, the grownup Bantu joins the company without revealing his real identity to his biological parents to solve their problems and ends up taking the ownership of the company.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Lori Merish (2004). "Melodrama and American Fiction". In Shirley Samuels (ed.). A Companion To American Fiction 1780-1865. Blackwell Publishing. p.  192. ISBN   0-631-23422-5.
  2. Copeland, Libby (3 March 2020). The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are. New York. ISBN   9781419743009.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. She Thought She Was Irish Washington Post. July 27, 2017.
  4. "CHANGELING" SUES PARENTS :Dutch Case Ruled Inadmissible. The Manchester Guardian. Reuters. December 28, 1955.
  5. Switched at birth Challis Messenger. April 16, 2019.
  6. Dickerson, Chris. "Judge denies Catholic Church's motion to dismiss in case of men switched at birth". West Virginia Record. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
  7. "Switch at birth revealed 75 years later". Associated Press. 16 March 2019.
  8. "Home DNA tests show two women were switched at birth 72 years ago". NBC News. 14 June 2018.
  9. "Public Radio to Air Story of PdC Babies Switched at Birth". Redorbit. 26 July 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  10. "Switched at Birth". This American Life. 25 July 2008.
  11. "Pair Switched At Birth Uncover Mystery". CBS News. May 11, 2009.
  12. Calamur, Krishnadev (Nov 29, 2013). "Japanese 'Prince' Switched at Birth Was Raised A Pauper". NPR.org. NPR. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  13. "Japan Man born to wealthy parents lived in poverty after being switched at birth". YouTube. Global Report News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  14. "Switched at Birth, Two Canadians Discover Their Roots at 67". 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  15. "Spain twins sue over birth mix-up". BBC News. May 27, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  16. "Two Texas Women in Their 50s Make a Startling Discovery: They Were Switched at Birth". NextTribe. May 19, 2021.
  17. "FACT CHECK: Twins Switched at Birth". Snopes.com. 8 April 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  18. "2 Manitoba men switched at birth dealing with 'stolen identity'". CBC Manitoba, November 15, 2015.
  19. "Manitoba men weep after learning they were switched at birth 41 years ago". CBC Manitoba, August 26, 2016.
  20. Martin Guggenheim (2005). What's Wrong With Children's Rights?. Harvard University Press. p. 56. ISBN   0-674-01721-8.
  21. DOMINUS, SUSAN (9 July 2015). "The Mixed-Up Brothers of Bogotá". New York Times. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  22. Chai, Carmen (15 July 2015). "Watch: A tale of two sets of identical twins, mixed up at birth". Global News. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  23. "Where are the 'Mixed up brothers of Bogota' now?". Fox News. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  24. "The Mixed-Up Brothers of Bogotá". imgur. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  25. Clinton-Parker v. Administrator, Transvaal; Dawkins v. Administrator, Transvaal 1996 (2) SA 37 (W)
  26. "2 MOMS SUING OVER SONS SWITCHED AT BIRTH". The Deseret News . 1995-08-22.
  27. "Damages awarded after babies switched". The Kansas City Star . Associated Press. 1995-10-22.
  28. "Switched at birth" . Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  29. "Two families, 10 years later - Roanoke.com" . Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  30. "Sisters forever, the true story of baby girls swapped in cradles in Mazara del Vallo arrives on TV". 2021-09-15.
  31. McLaughlin, Daniel (5 December 2007). "Two Czech babies accidentally swapped returned to parents". The Irish Times . Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  32. Rosenberg, Steve (10 October 2011). "Baby mix-up case grips Russians". BBC News. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  33. Pandey, Geeta (23 January 2018). "The switched-at-birth babies who refused to swap back". BBC News. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  34. Price, Matthew (2016-06-02). "'The pain - he was not mine': The trauma of El Salvador baby swap family". BBC News . Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  35. "NOT OUR BABY: Both DNA tests in Rizal baby-switching incident come back negative". GMA News Online. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  36. MomCenter (2021-03-01). "TIMELINE: Rizal babies switched at birth". MomCenter Philippines. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  37. Joseph Bolivar De Lee (1966). Obstetrics for Nurses. London and Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders. p.  433.
  38. Lawrence Joseph Stone and Joseph Church (1973). Childhood and Adolescence: A Psychology of the Growing Person . Random House UK Ltd. p.  46. ISBN   0-394-31723-8.
  39. Gregg Crane (2002). "The positivist alternative". In Ross Posnock (ed.). Race, Citizenship, and Law in American Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 174–182. ISBN   0-521-01093-4.
  40. Kerry Segrave (1999). Movies at Home: How Hollywood Came to Television. McFarland & Company. p. 139. ISBN   0-7864-0654-2.
  41. Diane; Diane, erson-Minshall; Times, erson-Minshall is an award-winning entertainment journalist Her work appears in The New York; Online, E!; People. "Meet The 'Chrisley Knows Best' Cast". LiveAbout. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  42. "Kakkou no Iinazuke".