Criminal Probe of Baby Swap Imminent

A criminal investigation could begin next week into claims by a nurse’s aide that the 1978 swap of two baby girls was intentional, authorities said.

Inconsistencies have arisen in the story told by Patsy Webb about the switch of Kimberly Mays and another baby nearly 15 years ago.

Webb, who worked at Hardee Memorial Hospital in rural Wauchula in 1978, had denied three times knowing anything about the switch of babies born to Barbara and Robert Mays and to Ernest and Regina Twigg.

But Webb said Tuesday that a doctor at the hospital gave the order to switch the babies, exchanging Kimberly for the Mays’ ailing baby. Webb said she refused to switch the newborns but found them switched when she went to work the next day.

The reason Webb offered for the switch is contradicted by medical records.

Webb said the switch was made because Barbara Mays had cancer. “They wanted her to have the good baby because she didn’t have long to live,” Webb said.

Mrs. Mays died of ovarian cancer in 1981, but her medical records show she wasn’t diagnosed until June 16, 1980. Mrs. Mays’ obstetrician said Thursday she had no sign of cancer at the time of the birth.

Webb said that the girl who went home with the Twiggs had a heart condition. The Mays’ lawyer, Arthur Ginsburg, said no one knew the seriousness of the condition until years later.

The swap came to light when the child raised by the Twiggs was being treated for heart problems, and blood tests showed she wasn’t their biological daughter. The girl, named Arlena by the Twiggs, died in 1988.

Cliff Somers, an attorney for Dr. Ernest Palmer, denied Webb’s claim that Palmer ordered the swap.

“There’s no credibility in what Patsy Webb says,” Somers said. “Dr. Palmer had nothing to do with this.”

The Twiggs have long claimed the swap was intentional. They are appealing a judge’s ruling last summer denying them any claim to Kimberly, who went home with the Mays.

The St. Petersburg Times reported Thursday that Webb’s personnel file noted she was forgetful, acted “spaced out” and had a “severe emotional problem.”

The latest publicity has hurt 14-year-old Kimberly the most, Ginsburg said.