Parents Ask Criminal Probe in Florida Baby Swap Case

The lawyer for Kimberly Mays’ biological parents called for a criminal investigation Wednesday based on a former nursing aide’s claim that a doctor ordered Kimberly swapped with another baby nearly 15 years ago.

“Since Day 1, I have pleaded with people to treat the Twiggs as victims of a kidnaping,” said John Blakely, the attorney for Ernest and Regina Twigg. “People haven’t wanted to believe it, but they should start believing it now.”

The Twiggs are appealing a judge’s ruling last summer denying them any claim to Kimberly.

The baby swap came to light when the child raised by the Twiggs developed heart problems and blood tests showed that she was not their biological daughter. After Arlena Twigg died in 1988, the Twiggs began a search that led them to Kimberly and to Robert Mays, who raised her.

Blakely conceded that a criminal investigation would have no effect on custody unless it points to Mays, who has been affirmed by the courts as Kimberly’s legal father.

“Bob Mays is not involved--it’s not a concern of ours whatsoever,” Mays’ attorney, Arthur Ginsburg, told reporters Wednesday.

He said Mays has been investigated by the FBI, passed a polygraph and is completely cleared.

Ginsburg said the latest claim should have no effect on where Kimberly will live because the judge ruled on the girl’s well-being, not on whether the switch was intentional.

Former nurse’s aide Patsy Webb issued a statement Tuesday saying that a doctor at Hardee Memorial Hospital in rural Wauchula, Fla., in 1978 gave the order to switch Kimberly with another, ailing baby. She said she refused, but the next day she found that the two babies had been switched.

She said a doctor later told her if she spoke out she would be fired and lose the health insurance that was allowing her to care for her own cancer-stricken child.

Webb said she decided to speak out now because she is sick with a respiratory illness.

Webb, 60, told CBS News that three doctors at the hospital were aware of the switch.

Lawyers for Webb offered no corroborating evidence and refused to provide a motive or comment beyond her statement.