A Beijing hospital has
been ordered to pay 500,000 yuan (US$68,000) to two families 21
years after they took home the wrong newborn babies, the
Beijing Youth Daily said yesterday.
A woman surnamed Pan,
who gave birth to twin boys at the hospital in 1986, watched as her
"sons" became less alike as they grew older, the report said. One
grew to 184 centimeters in height with strong features, the other
grew into a "skinny and delicate" child about 14cm
shorter.
After neighbors and her
sons' classmates mentioned seeing a boy "exactly the same" as the
older "twin", Pan took her sons to be tested. The results showed
only her younger son was biologically related. Pan eventually found
her biological son in the care of another family surnamed Rao, who
had delivered a baby boy at the same hospital four days before. The
two families sued the hospital after confirming that they had each
taken home the other's baby.
The court said the
hospital had "lacked effective regulations governing the separation
of new-born babies" and ordered emotional damages.
Last year, two Chinese
families in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region sued a
local hospital 15 years after they took home the wrong baby
boys.
(Shanghai Daily
December 14, 2007)