One Family Refuses to Return Infant in Irish Hospital Baby Mix-up Case

An Irish hospital said it gave two baby boys to the wrong parents last week, and one couple refused to return the infant they were given, insisting it is theirs.

The disputed baby was taken to a hospital for treatment of jaundice on Friday, a day after a high court ruled the infant has to remain there until a court hearing on the dispute next week.

The court ordered the names of the couples to be withheld.

“I’m not going to give him up,” the woman who doubted a mistake had been made said at the hospital. “He is mine. He has my husband’s nose and his family’s features. How could another baby look like the family? I could pick him out of a nursery of 35 babies as mine.”

The babies were born 10 minutes apart Aug. 21 at Portlaoise Hospital. Hospital matron Mairead Hogan said identification labels on the infants and their cribs inadvertently were switched.

Doctor Discovers Mistake

In a court affidavit, obstetrician Dr. John Conway said he concluded the parents had the wrong children after examining his records.

The woman who insists she has the right baby said Friday she was told a difference in the babies’ weights prompted the decision that a mistake had been made.

Her husband, when told of the mistake, used abusive language and pushed Conway against a wall, then ordered his wife to leave the hospital with the child, the obstetrician said in his affidavit.

“I was already discharged and waiting on my husband to collect me before they said anything,” the woman said. “We couldn’t accept there had been a mix-up and we left straightaway.

Police Arrive

“Then on Tuesday evening they all arrived at the door--the matron, the ward sister (nurse) and two policemen. Imagine bringing the police to our house. The matron demanded I give the boy back to the hospital. My husband wouldn’t give a thought to it.”