Baby Swapped At Birth: Texas Parents Reunited With Biological Child After DNA Test Proved Hospital’s Mistake
A Texas couple was reunited with their biological child after they discovered they were sent home with the wrong baby after raising the “swapped” baby for four months. The mother, Mercedes Casanellas, says that she knew something was wrong from the start as the baby’s skin was darker than expected. The couple feared that their baby had been stolen at the El Salvador hospital where she gave birth or potentially sold into human trafficking. Therefore, they opted for a DNA test, which proved their worst fears were true: the child living in their Texas home was not biologically theirs. The family then set out to uncover what happened to their son in the El Salvador hospital that Casanellas gave birth.
The Daily Mail reports that Mercedes Casanellas and her husband, Richard Cushworth, had a sneaking suspicion that the child they were sent home with to the United States from the El Salvador hospital was not their biological baby. The family explained why Mercedes birthed her son outside of the United States by noting that the she was performing missionary work in her native country while pregnant. Five weeks before her due date, the mother was told she needed an emergency c-section. Therefore, she had the baby in El Salvador while her husband was still in the United States at their Dallas home, as he was scheduled to arrive in the coming days for the birth.
Casanellas says that when she first saw her son immediately after the birth, he was lighter skinned and had facial expressions that mimicked that of his father. However, the next day, when the baby was returned to her room, she says the baby looked darker and was more swollen in appearance. She pointed out the discrepancy, but the hospital assured her that the baby was hers, adding the baby was just swollen from birth and that the skin would lighten over time. Therefore, the couple took the baby back to Texas with them and took care of the child for four months.
However, Casanellas couldn’t get over her feelings. She says she knew something was wrong and that the baby in her custody was not biologically hers. Therefore, after four months of caring for the child, the pair decided to have a DNA test performed on the child to put their minds at rest. What they discovered was horrifying. The baby they were sent home with from the hospital was not biologically theirs. They immediately set out to discover what happened to their son and feared that he may have been sold into human trafficking.
According to the Blaze, the story has a bittersweet ending as Casanellas and Cushworth were reunited with their biological child in El Salvador over the weekend. The hospital pulled records of the four male babies born the same day as the Texas family’s son and performed DNA tests. They discovered that another family was also living with a child that was not biologically theirs. The families met in an El Salvador court and swapped babies as an investigation revealed the babies were swapped by accident as a result of hospital staff errors, not human trafficking.
Baby swap case was hospital mix-up rather than human trafficking – Brit dad reunited with son http://t.co/mQM3urHpQ8 pic.twitter.com/y9vDekd0Wq
— HuffPost UK (@HuffPostUK) September 8, 2015
What do you think of the bizarre story of the babies swapped at birth? What would you do if you discovered that the child you were sent home with from the hospital was not biologically yours?
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