Hospital Confirms Mix-Up : Couple Are Sent Home With the Wrong Baby Boy

Two mothers were handed the wrong infants when they left the maternity ward of a West Los Angeles hospital after giving birth last month, a spokeswoman for the medical facility confirmed Friday.

“We really don’t know” how the mix-up happened, said Michelle Sorey, spokeswoman for the Kaiser Permanente Hospital. “That’s the question we are all asking.”

Sorey said blood tests confirmed that Rosetta Kirks, 30, and her husband, Tommy Milligan, 47, had been given a baby boy born to another couple, and the second family took home the infant Kirks had delivered.

The hospital refused to release the names of the second couple, who have been informed of the switch in babies. Both couples were reunited Friday with their biological babies.

Sorey said second couple was identified through “a process of elimination” using information on medical charts.

The hospital’s announcement ended days of uncertainty as Kirks faced what may be a mother’s worst nightmare: For three weeks, she cared for and nurtured the newborn she thought was hers--only to find out that she had the wrong child.

“I thought it was my baby,” Kirks told The Times before learning of the results of the blood tests. “I was crazy about him. I’m just confused.”

Kirks and Milligan began to suspect something was wrong when the baby they called Nicholas seemed smaller than the one Kirks had delivered. And little Nicholas did not seem to resemble the photographs that had been taken in the delivery room.

Kirks then re-examined the baby’s hospital identification bracelet and was shocked to see a strange name, said Shelly Shellmire, a spokesman for the family’s attorney.

The baby, it turned out, weighed less and was three inches shorter than recorded on the birth certificate, Shellmire said. While it is not unusual for a baby to lose weight after birth, the difference in length could not be explained.

“The baby just looked smaller and smaller to her,” Shellmire said. “In the photo, the baby was plump, not the skinny thing she had there with her. . . . She got hysterical. They were really upset and didn’t know what was going on.”

Kirk and Milligan, both of Inglewood, wrestled with their suspicions and fears for days before returning the infant to the hospital on Wednesday.

Kaiser agreed to conduct blood tests to positively identify the parents of the baby and contacted the second couple, who returned to the hospital with their infant.

Kaiser said an internal investigation is under way.

The hospital was offering psychological counseling to both couples.

“It’s a very traumatic situation,” Sorey said. “Three weeks someone has a baby and then to have to relinquish that baby and start to care for one that you haven’t seen before . . . . That’s very traumatic.”

First Known Mix-Up

This was the first baby mix-up in the hospital’s 15-year history, Sorey said. She said the hospital has not received telephone calls from other concerned mothers since news of the switch was made public.

“The chances of this happening are very slim,” she said.

Kaiser, which delivers an average of 170 babies a month, follows a standard procedure for releasing infants. Newborns are tagged with wrist and ankle bracelets, and a third ID bracelet is given to the mother.

Sorey said one of the bracelets is removed from the baby when it is discharged. Both mother and nurse are supposed to check the identifications at that moment, Sorey said. She said part of the investigation will focus on whether all these checks were followed.

Shellmire, who works for Encino attorney Jerome Eisenberg, said Kirks did not pay attention to the baby’s ID bracelet when she took him home.

“She took the armband off and put it with other baby mementos,” he said. Only after she became suspicious did she check the armband.

The baby Kirks delivered on Feb. 11 weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces and measured 21 1/2 inches. The baby she took home was 4 pounds lighter and measured only 18 inches, Shellmire said.

“You know a baby’s not going to shrink. It may lose weight, but it won’t shrink,” he said. Shellmire said Kirks and Milligan plan to sue the hospital.

In addition to standard blood tests, the hospital used chromosome studies and DNA “fingerprinting” to confirm the babies’ parentage.

A Los Angeles County social worker who was called in on the case said both babies appeared healthy and in good condition as they were restored to their rightful parents.