Two men have sued a North Dakota hospital after DNA tests revealed they were switched at birth 38 years ago, leading both families to accuse the facility of denying them the lives they were meant to live.
Kyle Bylin discovered his biological family after taking an at-home DNA test during a Christmas gift exchange. The test linked him to his biological aunt through a genealogy platform. Her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, later took a DNA test, confirming they had been switched at birth.
“That’s when my mind was just completely blown,” Bylin said. “We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred.”
Morrison said he knew something was wrong after seeing a photograph of Bylin’s brother and noticing their striking resemblance.
According to a lawsuit filed in a North Dakota state court last week, Bylin and Morrison were the only babies born on January 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Center in Grafton. They were sent home with the wrong families.
The hospital said there is no evidence its staff caused the mix-up. However, Bylin, who was born Jeremy Morrison, said he still possesses the hospital bracelet that wrongly identified him as Kyle Bylin.
The discovery came two years ago and has forced both families to confront decades of lost experiences and unanswered questions.
“Kyle is still my son — that is never going to change,” Evelyn Newton, who raised him, told The Associated Press. “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?”
Unity Medical acknowledged the impact of the discovery but maintained it has found no evidence that its administration or staff were responsible.
“We recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families,” Unity Medical’s statement says. “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.”
Morrison said the revelation has not changed how he feels about the family that raised him.
“I was loved. I played sports. I did well in school,” Morrison said. “A DNA test is not going to take away 38 years of memories.”
Now living in Colorado and working as a welding inspector for a wind energy company, Morrison believes he might have remained on his biological family’s North Dakota grain farm had the switch never happened.
Newton said she never suspected Kyle was not her biological son, despite differences in hair colour. She attributed those differences to extended family traits and the fact that she was adopted herself.
For Bylin, the discovery has reshaped his understanding of his identity and the differences he always felt within the family that raised him.
“You’re just kind of shaking your fist, like, how can this be my family? How am I so different from them?” Bylin said. “It turns out that we’re just totally different people, period.”
Both men have since met their biological parents. They described the meetings as welcoming but awkward. Although they have not yet met each other in person, they have spoken by phone.
“We’ve tried to unite as a group and just recognize that no matter what, there’s different ways that this can be socially messy,” Bylin said. “Everyone’s getting to know people that they didn’t know before.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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