Millions in damages wanted in baby mix up case | Latest News

"The first right of any child is the right to their own personal and family identity," said the lawyer of twins separated at birth through a hospital error. "In this case, that right has been violated."

According to Spanish news agencies twins who were separated at birth, then reunited as adults, are suing for millions in damages. Also a third woman who grew up thinking, she was one of the twins has joined the lawsuit against the Canary Islands government.

The real twins met in 2001 and the case has been working its way through the courts since 2004.

Sebastian Socorro Perdomo, a lawyer for one of the twins said that a decision is expected soon on whether they deserve damages. He refused to release the names of any of the women.
In an interview for the local news agency Socorro Perdomo said that his client is seeking $4.7 million from the government of the Canary Islands, where the error occurred back in 1973 in the city of Las Palmas.
"It does not take a lot of effort to put yourself in the position of any of these people in order to understand the damage that has been done," Socorro Perdomo said, explaining how his client was taken out of her crib as her twin sister lay in one right next to her, mistakenly replaced by another baby girl.
His client who was taken away from her twin sister and real family - is the most devastated of the three women: "Since this discovery, her world has turned a bit upside down," he said.
The mistake was discovered by accident at a clothing store in the very same city it all began all those years ago. The sales assistant tried to greet a women with a kiss thinking that she was her friend, but the customer refused.
"The surprised sales assistant then called her friend who assured her that she had not been in to the shop." - said Socorro. When she came by the store a second time, the clerk figured out what was happening and arranged for the women to meet.
Later the DNA tests proved they were identical twins reports The Associated Press.