Doris Gruenwald, 27, only discovered after a routine blood test when she was 22 that she was not biologically related to the couple she...
Doris Gruenwald, 27, only discovered after a routine blood test when she was 22 that she was not biologically related to the couple she thought were her parents. It was later found out that their was a mix-up in the 20 hours between the birth and the mother, recovering from a caesarean section, being given the child. Read more details after cut...
The Austrian hospital involved has been ordered to pay 90,000 euros (£80,000) in damages over the mix-up of two babies almost 30 years ago. The clinic, University Hospital Graz, however cast doubt on whether the mix-up happened there, suggesting it may have taken place later and somewhere else.
But the court rejected this, ruling that the mix-up happened in the 20 hours between the birth and the mother, recovering from a caesarean section, being given the child.
Ruling there was 'gross negligence', it awarded damages of 30,000 euros each for Doris and Evelin Gruenwald plus her husband, as well as the costs from the couple adopting her.
Doris Gruenwald still does not know who her biological parents are, while the other victim is unaware that she was brought up by the wrong people.
This is despite the hospital having last year launched a programme offering free DNA tests to the 200 women born in the hospital around the same time and their mothers.
So far, only about 30 women have taken advantage of the tests and no matches have been found.
The local health authority said it planned to appeal against the ruling, saying that the court had failed to establish that the babies were mixed up at the hospital.
Doris' devastated mother Evelin Gruenwald, who raised her as her own, told the Krone daily newspaper: 'Of course it was a huge shock for me and my daughter.
'But we knew from the start that nothing could separate us, that we would stay mother and daughter.
'This child is the best thing that ever happened to me.'
LKH University Hospital Graz said at the time of Doris's birth no other baby girl was born with such a low weight as the premature Doris in its hospital.
Dailymail
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