Babies switched at birth are babies who, because of either error or malice, are interchanged with each other at birth or very 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 in recent years is becoming more commonly identified due to genealogical testing of DNA, which reveals true genetic parentage. The phenomenon has been common as a plot device in novels and films, such as the TV series Switched at Birth and Autumn in My Heart.
In reality
In real life, such a switch occurs rarely. 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.
In 1913, a baby subsequently named Jim Collins was born to Sam and Ida Benson and a baby subsequently named Phillip Benson was born to John Josef Collins and his wife. They were switched at Fordham Hospital in New York City in the early days of hospital births. In 1931, at the Leiden University Medical Center, female babies Agnes van Vegten and Lenie van Duyn were switched. Suspicions did not rise until two decades later, when the girls met at a wedding and wondered at their mutual likeness to each other's family. In 1941, in a Michigan hospital, Tom Johnson and Herbert Benjamin Reibman were accidentally switched. The switch was discovered in 2019 after genetic testing. In 1942, in a West Virginia hospital, John William Carr III and Jackie Lee Spencer were accidentally switched. The switch was discovered after DNA testing. In 2020, the men filed a lawsuit over the switch. In 1942, in a Pennsylvania hospital, Sandra Baronick Pyne and Sandra Monaco Smith were accidentally switched. The switch was discovered in 2018 after genetic testing. In 1942, at Bureå hospital in northern Sweden, two boys were accidentally switched, and then switched back after a legal process in 1945 (the case is known as in Swedish). This is described in the novel Kapten Nemos bibliotek (1991) by Per Olov Enquist, who was a cousin of one of the boys. In 1945, Denice Juneski and Linda Jourdeans were accidentally switched in a St. Paul Minnesota hospital. The switch was discovered in 2018 after genetic testing. In 1951, at a hospital in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the babies of Mary Miller and Kay McDonald were accidentally switched. Mary Miller immediately suspected that a switch had occurred, as the baby she received weighed a full two pounds less than at the hospital. Mary Miller knew Kay McDonald, and assumed that it was their baby she had taken home. However, a series of circumstances kept Mary Miller from actively pursuing her suspicion for 43 years, when she revealed to the now grown girls, Sue McDonald and Martha Miller, what she suspected of their births. Genetic tests later confirmed that a switch did in fact occur. The story was featured on an episode of the radio show This American Life. In 1953, at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner, Oregon, two babies were switched. In May 2009, the women discovered they were switched. DeeAnn Angell of Fossil and Kay Rene Reed of Condon learned about the mistake from an 86-year-old woman who was a former neighbor. The former neighbor said that one of the girls' mothers, Marjorie Angell, insisted back in 1953 that she had been given the wrong baby after nurses returned from bathing them. But her concerns were ignored. With both sets of parents dead, the Reed and Angell siblings compared notes and family stories, learning that rumors of a mix-up had been around for years. Kay Rene Reed decided to get their DNA tested, and that confirmed the mistake. They both say they just have to move forward with their lives now, and they celebrated their latest birthday together. In March 1953, at San-Ikukai Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, hospital staff mistook a baby boy for another baby boy born 13 minutes later. This story was referred to as the tale of the Japanese "prince and pauper." Sixty years later, a 60-year-old Japanese truck driver discovered he was switched at birth after being born to a rich family. The man was raised by a single mother in a 100-square-foot apartment. The boy who was raised in his place by the rich family became the president of a real estate company. In the mid 1950s, Richard Beauvais and Eddy Ambrose were born hours apart in a small, municipally-run rural hospital in Arborg, Manitoba, and then sent home with the wrong parents. In 2021, members of their family did DNA testing and discovered the switch. Their story was featured in The New York Times in 2023.