Swapped babies return to birth parents
By Associated Press
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PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Two baby girls mistakenly swapped at birth went home to their biological parents in time to celebrate their first birthdays, reports said Tuesday.
DNA tests earlier this year revealed that the two sets of parents had taken the wrong baby home from a clinic southeast of Prague nearly a year ago.
For the last few weeks, the girls have been spending time with their biological parents for several days at a stretch.
"It's an attempt for a permanent solution," the father of one of the girls, Libor Broza, was quoted as saying.
The parents agreed to swap their daughters and discussed several dates for their return, including the girls' first birthday, Dec. 9, or New Year's Day.
They finally decided to swap the babies Monday - possibly for good - on the advice of a psychologist, the Lidove Noviny daily said.
The mix-up came when Broza became suspicious that his daughter, Nikola, did not resemble him. DNA tests revealed he could not have fathered her. Broza's partner, Jaroslava Trojanova, also took a test - and her results were negative.
Tests of the other couple, Jan Cermak and his wife, Jaroslava Cermakova, who were raising a girl they believed was their daughter, Veronika, also came back negative.
The clinic in Trebic, 100 miles southeast of Prague, where the mix-up took place called it a "regrettable" case and a result of "serious mistakes" made by two nurses who since have been fired.
Police also investigated the mistake but no charges were filed.
