In the northeastern state of Assam in India, about two years and nine months ago, two baby boys were switched at birth. One of the mothers suspected it from the beginning, causing her husband to do a bit of investigating. After sending in blood samples of his wife and the baby, there was no genetic match between the two. However there was a clerical error in the form.
The boys were born within five minutes of each other with the same birth weight, 6.6 lbs. Upon consulting the nurse who was working in the labor room at the time of birth, the hospital denied any mistakes they may have made. When the husband told the hospital of the results of the blood test, he was told that it was unacceptable by law and decided to involve the police.
It then took seven months to receive an official sample with proof that these babies were not living with their biological parents. Two months later, the families went to court in hopes of swapping children, but the kids refused to leave their parents. The ultimate decision was made to keep the kids with the families they’d been living with for the past few years until they are old enough to make a valid decision.
This decision poses an important question. Should these 2-year-olds be able to make this choice? At their age they don’t truly understand the circumstances, and as heartless as it may seem, if they were switched, they may not even remember the families they have been with for the last few years. Very few people have memories before the age of three, or even four. These two families have very different backgrounds, religious and otherwise, which could make switching families later in life an obstacle which could be avoided.
