‘I didn’t 100% fit in’: How two men discovered they had been switched at birth | US News

The families of two men switched at birth 38 years ago have accused a US hospital of depriving them of the lives they should have led.

Kyle Bylin discovered his birth family by taking a DNA test he chose randomly during a Christmas gift exchange.

The results led him to his biological aunt on a genealogy platform. Her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, then had his DNA tested, and the birth switch was revealed almost four decades on.

“That’s when my mind was just completely blown,” Mr Bylin said. “We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred.”

Mr Bylin and Mr Morrison were the only babies born on 26 January 1988 at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, according to a lawsuit filed in state court last week.

However, they left hospital with the wrong parents.

The hospital does not dispute that the babies were switched, but it says that it has not uncovered any evidence that its staff were responsible for the life-changing error.

“We recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families,” Unity Medical said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, 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.”

Two years have passed since the DNA test revealed the swap.

“Kyle is still my son – that is never going to change,” said Evelyn Newton. “But I feel robbed of the life I should have had with my biological son. You can’t go back and replace 35 years. First steps, driving a car, getting married – how do you make up for that?”

Mr Morrison’s new knowledge of his birth has not changed the way he feels about the family which brought him up.

“I was loved,” he said. “I played sports, I did well in school. A DNA test is not going to take away 38 years of memories.”

But Mr Morrison, who lives in Colorado and works as a welding inspector for a wind energy firm, believes that he would be working with his biological father and brother on their grain farm had it not been for the swap.

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Ms Newton never had any reason to believe that Mr Bylin was not her biological son

Mr Bylin, however, pursued an academic career far from North Dakota, and felt “different” from the family who raised him.

“There have certainly been different times throughout my life when I felt like a black sheep in my family, or that like maybe I was looking for someplace that I belonged,” he said.

“And only to find out years later that there really was a difference… that there is a reason why I didn’t 100% fit in all the time.”

The men have now met their biological parents, but not each other. However, they have spoken on the phone.