Mother Says She Got Wrong Son, Now 48

A Virginia woman has written Denver’s Mercy Hospital seeking to open birth records that she believes will prove that the child she took home from the hospital 48 years ago was not her son, it was reported today.

Wilma Hennessey of Alexandria, Va., told the Denver Post that if the letter doesn’t work, she will seek a court order to examine the records, which the hospital considers confidential.

“The hospital has procrastinated and has used the privacy law, but that applies to adoptees, not to births,” Hennessey said. “All that is necessary is a court order to open up the records.”

She wants to examine records describing the birth of her son, Barry W. Hennessey, in 1936. She said she never thought Barry was hers, and that four years ago she compared his footprint with the one made of her newborn’s foot. She said the footprints are not similar.

“I told my husband when we came home from the hospital, ‘I’m not sure this is my baby,’ ” Hennessey said. “He seemed so shocked, and I never mentioned it again.”