TWO French families whose babies were switched
at birth more than 20 years ago won nearly two
million euros in compensation on Tuesday.
The court in the southern town of Grasse ordered
the clinic at the centre of the mix-up in the French
Riviera city of Cannes to pay 1.88 million euros ($
2.13 million) — six times less than the families had
called for.
The story began on July 4, 1994, when Sophie
Serrano — now in her late 30s — gave birth to little
Manon at a clinic in Cannes.
The baby suffered from jaundice and doctors put
her in an incubator equipped with lights to treat the
problem along with another affected newborn girl.
An auxiliary nurse unwittingly switched them, and
although both mothers immediately expressed
doubt about the babies, pointing to their different
hair lengths, they were sent home anyway.
Ten years later, troubled by the fact his daughter
bore no resemblance to him with her darker skin,
Manon's father did a paternity test that revealed he
was not her biological parent.
Sophie Serrano then discovered she was not
Manon's mother either, prompting a probe to try and
find the other family who had been handed their
biological daughter.
The investigation revealed that at the time of the
births in 1994, three newborns suffered from
jaundice — the two girls and a boy — and the clinic
only had two incubators with the special lights.
The girls were therefore put together in one
incubator.
The two sets of parents met their biological
daughters for the first time when they were both 10
years old, but did not ask that they be switched
back.
The two families have distanced themselves from
each other since the meeting 10 years ago
.
French families of girls switched at birth win nearly 2 mn euros in damages
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