{"id":9231,"date":"2026-07-18T04:15:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9231"},"modified":"2026-07-18T04:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:15:42","slug":"men-sue-hospital-after-dna-tests-showed-they-were-switched-at-birth-38-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9231","title":{"rendered":"Men sue hospital after DNA tests showed they were switched at birth 38 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">COLORADO CITY, Colo. &#8212; <\/span>The families of two men who discovered through <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/america-250-revolution-dna-unknown-soldier-a672d84951897c9f2c2615a1e6c49758\">DNA tests<\/a> that they were switched at birth 38 years ago are accusing a North Dakota hospital of robbing them of the lives they were supposed to lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kyle Bylin discovered his birth family after taking an at-home test he chose randomly during a Christmas gift-exchange. That led to his biological aunt on a genealogy platform. Her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, then had his DNA tested. The results were irrefutable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cThat\u2019s when my mind was just completely blown,\u201d Bylin said. \u201cWe could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Morrison said he was convinced as soon as he saw a photo of Bylin&#8217;s brother and realized they looked very much alike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Bylin and Morrison were the only babies born on Jan. 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, according to their lawsuit filed in state court last week. Somehow, they went home with the wrong parents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A hospital statement says there\u2019s no evidence staff were responsible for the switch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">But Bylin, born Jeremy Morrison, says he still has the hospital bracelet that misidentified him as Kyle Bylin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Two years have passed since the DNA tests shattered what they thought they knew about their families \u2014 including disorienting moments, emotional family meetings and thoughts about the what-ifs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cKyle is still my son \u2014 that is never going to change,\u201d Evelyn Newton, who raised him as her own, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday. \u201cBut I feel robbed of the life I should have had with my biological son. You can&#8217;t go back and replace 35 years. First steps, driving a car, getting married \u2014 how do you make up for that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The hospital doesn&#8217;t dispute that the babies were switched at some point. It says it&#8217;s working to better understand what happened, but has uncovered no evidence that its administration or staff were responsible for the lives-altering error.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families,\u201d Unity Medical&#8217;s statement says. \u201cUnfortunately, because of the passage of nearly four decades, the medical and staffing records that might have provided additional clarity no longer exist, and no members of the delivery team from that time are still employed by the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The knowledge hasn&#8217;t changed the way Morrison feels about the family he&#8217;s always known. He still thinks of the parents he grew up with \u2014 Elizabeth O&#8217;Toole and Terry Morrison \u2014 as his parents. And aside from some challenging times \u2014 like wishing he had a sibling to lean on when he was 7 and they divorced \u2014 he says his childhood was fine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI was loved. I played sports. I did well in school,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cA DNA test is not going to take away 38 years of memories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Morrison now lives in Colorado City, Colorado, and works as a welding inspector for a wind energy company. Had he not been switched at birth, he figures he&#8217;d still be with his biological brother and father, working on the North Dakota grain farm where Bylin grew up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Newton said she never had any thought that Kyle might not be their biological son as she and her then-husband, Keith Bylin, were raising him. True, the immediate family had light hair and Kyle\u2019s was dark. But her husband had relatives with dark hair, and Newton herself was adopted, so she didn\u2019t know what her own blood relatives looked like.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">For Bylin, questions about nature versus nurture have become more personal. As he pursued an academic career far from North Dakota, he figured the political debates over Thanksgiving dinner were just a staple of American family life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cYou\u2019re just kind of shaking your fist, like, how can this be my family? How am I so different from them?\u201d Bylin said. \u201cIt turns out that we\u2019re just totally different people, period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Bylin and Morrison have now met their biological parents \u2014 the encounters were welcoming but awkward, they said. They have yet to meet each other, but have spoken on the phone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to unite as a group and just recognize that no matter what, there\u2019s different ways that this can be socially messy,\u201d Bylin said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s getting to know people that they didn\u2019t know before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Such cases are rare, but at-home DNA tests are making them easier to uncover: <\/p>\n<ul class=\"sfxjZ dAmzA UoVV WtEci dSKvB seFhp wtgAa XoCUF \" data-testid=\"prism-list\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">1. In 2024, two women <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/norway-babies-swapped-60c842f239da2f03f16bf1464761828e\">sued the government of Norway<\/a> alleging a breach of human rights after discovering they had been switched.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">2. Two men who believe they were <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/7321035487e70cc3788e36a0ecf99fd2\">switched at birth in 1942<\/a> sued a Roman Catholic diocese in West Virginia in 2020, alleging negligence and breach of duty by the hospital where they were born. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">3. In 2018 in Pennsylvania, testing revealed that two girls had been switched <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-a01018f1da1e4512ae4360478f33d1fb\">some 75 years earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">4. In 2016, the Canadian government launched an investigation after DNA evidence indicated two men from a northern Manitoba Indigenous community were <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/1fa88dc3cfaa4b3ebf12e05cff55208b\">switched at birth<\/a> in 1975. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">5. In 2024, two women <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/norway-babies-swapped-60c842f239da2f03f16bf1464761828e\">sued the government of Norway<\/a> alleging a breach of human rights after discovering they had been switched.<\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Dr. Jonathan Marron, a pediatric oncologist who also teaches at Harvard Medical School\u2019s Center for Bioethics, says such mix-ups should happen \u201cpretty close to never\u201d nowadays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cAs often as all clinicians, doctors, nurses, social workers, everybody else, gripe about the electronic health records,\u201d the digital backstop is a clear benefit, Marron said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Attorney Tim O\u2019Keefe said he tried for a year to reach a monetary settlement with the hospital before filing a lawsuit claiming emotional distress due to negligence and medical malpractice. The families have spent this time adjusting to new realities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI know the truth now, but we\u2019re still working to build relationships,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not like I can go back in time and rebuild what\u2019s already lost. It\u2019s a work in progress, just like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Susan Montoya Bryan contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Johnson reported from Seattle, Schuettler from Phoenix. Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reportforamerica.org\/\">Report for America<\/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COLORADO CITY, Colo. &#8212; The families of two men who discovered through DNA tests that they were switched at birth 38 years ago are accusing a North Dakota hospital of robbing them of the lives they were supposed to lead. Kyle Bylin discovered his birth family after taking an at-home test he chose randomly during&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/097199e8-3f52-4f61-9772-e3248f133d93\/wirestory_41e56f62fd6b8bb0afce8afc479ce7a8_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}